| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Sea of Japan | |
|---|---|
| Japanese Name | |
| Romaji | Nihonkai |
| Kanji | 日本海 |
| South Korean Name | |
| Revised Romanization | Donghae |
| McCune-Reischauer | Tonghae |
| Hangul | 동해 |
| Hanja | 東海 |
| North Korean Name | |
| McCune-Reischauer | Choson Tonghae |
| Revised Romanization | Joseon Donghae |
| Hangul | 조선동해 |
| Hanja | 朝鮮東海 |
| Chinese Name | |
| Pinyin | Rėbenhǎi |
| Wade-Giles | Jih-pen-hai |
| Chinese | 日本海 |
| Russian Name | |
| Russian | Япо́нское мо́ре |
The Sea of Japan (in South Korea called East Sea, in China called Japan Sea) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, bound by the JapanJapan (, Nippon/Nihon literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated on a chain of islands east of the Asian continent on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are, from north to south, Hokkaido , Honshese islands of Hokkaido, HonshuHonshu is the largest island of Japan, called the Mainland it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and north-east of Kyushu across the Shimonoseki Strait. Worldwide, it is either the seventh or eighth lar and KyushuKyushu is the third largest island of Japan and most southerly and westerly of the four main islands. An ancient name for Kyushu is Saikaido. It is considered the birthplace of Japanese civilization. Population: 13. 44 million (1995). Area: 35,640 km˛. and SakhalinSakhalin ( Russian: , also Saghalien (Ku Ye Dao, Chinese), or Karafuto ( Japanese: is a large elongated island in the North Pacific, lying between 45° 50' and 54° 24' N, in East Siberia, Russia. The capital of Sakhalin is Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk ( Russian: Japa island to the east, and the Korean peninsula and Russia to the west.
The sea is connected to other seas by six shallow straits: the Strait of Tartary or Mamiya Strait between the Asian mainland and Sakhalin; La Perouse Strait or Soya 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; the Tsushima Strait between the islands of Kyushu and Tsushima; and the Korea Strait between Tsushima and the Korean peninsula.
The deepest point is 3742 meters below sea level, its mean depth is 1752 metres. The surface area of the sea is about 978,000 km˛. The sea has three major basins. The Yamato Basin lies in the south east of the Sea of Japan; the Japan Basin in the north; the Tsushima Basin in the south west. The Japan basin is the deepest area of the Sea, and the shallowest water can be found in the Tsushima Basin.
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 at about 30 kilometres. The warm water in the Sea contributes to the mild climate in Japan.
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 mutual claims on the Liancourt Rocks by Japan and South Korea. The Sea is also important for its mineral deposits, particularly magnetite sands. There are also natural gas and a few petroleum fields. Since the growing of the East Asian economies, the Sea of Japan is an important commercial waterway.