The Russians named the island Japonski (Russian for "Japanese") after some Japanese fishermen who were stranded there in 1805 (unnamed Russians returned them to Yezo (Hokkaidō) in 1806).

Japonski Island is connected to Baranof Island and Sitka by the O'Connell Bridge. Before the bridge there was a ferry system similar to that which currently exists in Ketchikan. The shoreboats that maintained the transportation link between Japonski and the rest of Sitka were the Donna, Teddy, Dorothy, Diane, and Arrowhead. Japonski Island is home to Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport, the Sitka branch campus of the University of Alaska Southeast, Mt. Edgecumbe High School — a state-run boarding school for rural Alaskans, the Indian Health Service regional hospital SEARHC (SouthEast Alaska Regional Healthcare Center), a United States Coast Guard air station, and the port and facilities for the USCGC Maple. Besides the Coast Guard housing complex, there are very few Sitkans who live on Japonski Island. The official population was 269 persons at the 2000 census. The land area of Japonski Island, including the connected nearby much smaller islands such as Virublennoi (Rus. for "production"), Sasedni (Rus. for "Neighbour"), Kirushkin (prob. a Russian surname), Makhnati (Rus. for "magnates") and smaller islets, was 1.467 km² (362.52 acres).

References

• Japonski Island and connected smaller islands: Block Group 6, Census Tract 2, Sitka City and Borough, Alaska United States Census Bureau