On the 20^th of June of 1860, according to the Julian calendar, Manzhur, a Russian man of war, entered the Zolotoy Rog Bay of Peter the Great Gulf in the Sea of Japan. Forty rankers disembarked from it and pitched tents under the direction of Warrant Officer Komarov. The military post was quickly named Vladivostok, clearly showing Russia’s imperial ambitions in the region. There was no Pushkin at that moment to write about “a window to Asia,” but what the great Russian poet wrote about St. Petersburg fit the situation perfectly: the founders “stepped firmly on the land by the sea to spite the arrogant neighbors” and “banqueted in the open air.” And we’re still standing there and banqueting.