Sea of Japan
The
Sea of Japan (
East Sea) is a
marginal sea of the western
Pacific Ocean. Like the
Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no
tides due to its nearly complete enclosure.
The sea is bound by
Japanese islands of
Hokkaido,
Honshu, and
Kyushu and the
Russian island of
Sakhalin to the east, and mainland
Korea and Russia to the west.
It is connected to other seas by five shallow
straits: the
Strait of Tartary between the
Asian mainland and Sakhalin;
La Perouse Strait between the islands of Sakhalin and Hokkaido; the
Tsugaru Strait between the islands of Hokkaido and Honshu; the
Kanmon Strait between the islands of Honshu and Kyushu; and the
Korea Strait between the
Korean Peninsula and the island of Kyushu. The Korea Strait is composed of the Western Channel and the
Tsushima Strait, on either side of
Tsushima Island.
* Deepest point: 3742 metres below
sea level* Mean depth: 1752 metres
* Surface area: about 978,000 km²
The sea has three major basins: The
Yamato Basin in the south east; the
Japan Basin in the north; and the
Tsushima Basin (Ulleung Basin) in the southwest. The Japan Basin has the deepest areas of the sea, while the Tushima Basin has the shallowest.
On the eastern shores, the continental shelves of the sea are wide, but on the western shores, particularly along the Korean coast, they are narrow, averaging about 30 kilometres wide.
Tsushima Warm Current, a branch of
Kuroshio Current, flows northward through the Korea Strait along the Japanese shore, and
Liman Cold Current flows southward through Strait of Tartary along the Russian shore.
The areas in the north and the south east are rich fishing grounds. The importance of the fishery in the sea is well illustrated by the dispute between
South Korea and Japan over
Dokdo (Takeshima). The sea is also important for its mineral deposits, particularly
magnetite sands. There are also believed to be
natural gas and
petroleum fields. With the growth of
East Asian economies, the Sea of Japan has become an increasingly important commercial waterway.
Although
Sea of Japan is the commonly used term to refer to the sea amongst the international community, both North Korea and South Korea have advocated for a different name to be used. South Korea has argued that it should be called the East Sea; North Korea, the East Sea of Korea. However neither of these two names has achieved any formal international recognition. The reason for Japanese term
Sea of Japan's being commonly used is that Japan had reached the Western culture earlier and thus was able to spread its term worldwide. In addition to that, the colonization of Japan in Korean penninsula from early to mid-twentith century offered Japan the opportunity to advocate, spread, and make the term
Sea of Japan firmly known and recognizable worldwidely, even though the term
East Sea has been used longer by the ancient Korea, China, and even Japan itself.
