“Russia has a better claim to the title of ‘the land of the rising sun’ than Japan does,” joked Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, September, 5, 2022, at an ecological forum in the country’s Far East. But, is Russia truly the land of the rising sun? Let’s explore!
Some parts of Russia are sometimes considered to be a part of Asia. In the Northern part of Japan, there’s Russia’s Kamchatka or the island of Sakhalin. Then, there’s Russia’s Chukotka, which is the Northeastern part of Russia as a result of their locations, nothing more than that.
The easternmost area of Kamchatka, Russia experiences the first sunrise during the summer in the northern hemisphere.
This means that for a few weeks each year, the residents of this area get to see the sun come up before anyone else in the world.
So, yes, in a way, Russia is indeed the land of the rising sun because a part of it literally sees the sun rise first before the rest of the world does.
Then why is Japan often called the “Land of the Rising Sun”? This is because they were first called so by the South Chinese who believe they are close to the direction of where the sun rises, and also because the Japanese flag has the sun in its center.
But what about New Zealand? Surely it’s closer to the International Date Line than Russia is?
And thus, shouldn’t it be called the land of the rising sun?
But which country gets to see the sun first? There is a controversy surrounding which countries see the sun first due to the constant evolution and shifting of the international dateline due to economics and political reasons.
Well, technically yes – but only if you take into account UTC+14 which the Republic of Kiribati uses is a new time zone thus making it the farthest zone to the East, followed by New Zealand.
New Zealand uses this time zone, which is why it’s often said to be “one day ahead” of most other countries.
If we’re talking about literal sunrises, then Kamchatka in Russia sees the sun first before New Zealand even though it is not in Oceania or even Japan, and also depending on the time of the year as a result of the differences in latitude,
it could be North of Gisborne in New Zealand around the coast of Opotiki and Inland to Te Urewera National Park,
Kamchatka in Russia or Kiribati Islands also known as Republic of Kiribati located in the South Pacific. Now, although Russia is not part of Oceania, and a fraction of it is in Asia, it can literally be called the land of the rising sun because a part of it faces the direction of the sun when it rises. To learn more about which country sees the sun first in the world, visit this page. The page explains in details in which part of the world the sun rises.
Conclusion
So there you have it – an exploration of whether or not Russia can lay claim to literally being the land of the rising sun. Whether or not you believe Putin’s statement, there’s no denying that from a geographical perspective, he’s got a point in a sense.
