La Pérouse Strait (also
Soya Strait) is a 40 km (25 m.) wide and 20-40 m deep
strait dividing the southern part of the
Russian island of
Sakhalin from the northern part of the
Japanese island of
Hokkaido, and connecting the
Sea of Japan on the west with the
Sea of Okhotsk on the east. Named after
Jean François Galaup, Comte de La Pérouse, who discovered the channel to Europeans in
1787.