Sakhalin Island or Karafuto as it is known in Japan changed hands a number of times during the course of its history. Each change had a far-reaching impact not only on the native peoples but also on the thousands of immigrants who had settled there, either willingly or by force. For over a century, two major powers, the Soviet Union and Japan, endeavored to bring Sakhalin into their own sphere of influence. This long-standing dispute between the two countries came to an abrupt end when the Soviets crossed the 50th parallel and invaded Japanese-controlled Karafuto just days after the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki.