To visit the island of Sakhalin is to be reminded of the shifting fortunes of empire.
访问库页岛，提醒着人们帝国命运的不断变化。
From Imperial Japan, to Czarist Russia, and later Soviet rule,
从日本帝国到沙皇俄国，以及后来的苏联统治，
wars and changing boundaries have shaped Sakhalin's history, carrying families in their wake.
战争以及国界的不断变化书写着库页岛的历史，一些家庭的历史也被改写。
I was born here, grew up here. Until I was 7, I was brought up in a Japanese family.
我在这出生，我在这长大，在我七岁之前，我在一个日本家庭长大。
Sirokhata's parents stayed in Sakhalin after Soviet forces took full control of the island in the waning days of World War Two.
在二战即将结束，苏联军队全面控制库页岛之时，西洛卡塔的父母就在这个岛屿上。
So young Masaesi adapted, learning Russian and later joining the Soviet army to guard against the Japanese.
年轻的玛莎奥西适应了，学习了俄语，不久后加入了苏联军队来防范日本人。
The Japanese are coming from over there! They'd say during attack drills.
在攻击训练期间，他们会说日本人会从那儿来。
What do you mean coming? Here's one right next to me. We all joked about it.
来是什么意思？我旁边就有一个，我们都这么开玩笑。

Today, locals prefer to tout Sakhalin's growing economic integration with Asia.
今天，当地人更喜欢宣传库页岛和亚洲日益融合的经济，
While the Kremlin has invested heavily in the island, Sakhalin's oil, gas,
而俄罗斯则斥巨资投资该岛，库页岛的石油、天然气、
fishing and tourism industries are all banking on outside investment and visitors.
渔业以及旅游业都依靠外部投资和游客。
It's a long way from the days when the Soviet territory was closed to outsiders.
从苏联闭关锁国到如今是一段很长的路。
We were a part of the Soviet Union. We were developing the cities and factories. The people came here to live and work.
我们是苏联的一部分，我们发展城市和建设工厂，人们来这儿工作生活。
When I was a schoolboy I was not at all interested if we had some relations with Japan or not.
当我还在读书时，我对我们和日本有没有关系一点也不感兴趣。
But Sakhalin's Korean community, still vibrant, has never forgotten.
但是库页岛的韩国社区仍然活跃，从未忘记。
My family history is tragic but that tragedy touched not only us. Take almost any family here and it's the same.
我的家族历史是悲惨的，但是这样的悲剧不仅是我们家族的，几乎是这里所有家族的，悲剧大抵一样。
Brought to Sakhalin as cheap labor by the Japanese,
他们被日本人当作廉价的劳动力带到库页岛，
the island's Korean diaspora was cut off from their homeland as the Iron Curtain descended.
随着铁幕降临，岛上的韩国移民与祖国分离。
Even today, the process of family reunification and unfulfilled demands for Japanese reparations is an open wound for many.
即使在今天，家庭难以团聚，未能实现的日本赔偿对很多人来说都是伤痛。
My home is Sakhalin but my roots are in Korea. And if we forget our roots we forget who we are.
我家是库页岛，但是我的根在韩国，如果我们忘记了自己的根，那我们就忘记了自己是谁。
Differences over whose roots also lie at the heart of a dispute over the tiny Kuril Islands
这个问题也是小千岛群岛争议的核心问题，
that has kept Russia and Japan formally at war for over 70 years.
这一问题让日俄战争持续了70多年。
Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the two sides work out a deal by year's end.
俄总统普京向日本首相安倍晋三提议，两国在年末就这一问题达成协议。
How realistic that goal, say some locals, depends on how willing the Japanese are to bend.
许多当地民众称这一目标能否实现取决于日本愿不愿意屈服。
Russia, of course, is generous country and ready to forgive old debts, but give away its territory? No one will forgive that.
俄罗斯是个慷慨的国家，并准备免除债务问题，但要放弃国土？没人能放弃。
And with Russia facing another territorial dispute over the annexation of Crimea, the long standoff with Japan may offer a lesson.
俄罗斯在吞并克里米亚问题上也面临领土争端，而与日本的长期对峙或许是个教训。
That resolutions to some disputes remain out of reach, somewhere beyond the horizon.
某些争端或许还无法解决，或许还远远不能。
Charles Maynes for VOA News Sakhalin Island, Russia.
美国之音新闻，查尔斯·梅恩斯俄罗斯库页岛报道。