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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.