Major Seas of the World
Major Seas of the World : Andaman
Sea | Arabian Sea | Baltic
Sea | Bering Sea | Black
Sea | Caribbean Sea | East
China Sea | Gulf of Mexico
| Hudson Bay |
Mediterranean Sea | Red Sea |
Sea of Japan | Sea
of Okhotsk | South China
Sea
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.
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.
Physical Characeristics
The sea is bound by Russian mainland and Sakhalin island to the north, North Korea and South Korea to the west, and the Japanese islands of Hokkaido, Honshu, and Kyushu to the east.
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 Straits 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: 3,742 metres below sea level
Mean depth: 1,752 metres
Surface area: about 978,000 km²
The sea has three major basins: the Yamato Basin in the southeast; 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 Tsushima 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.
The Tsushima Warm Current, a branch of Kuroshio Current, flows northward through the Korea Strait along the Japanese shore, and the Liman Cold Current flows southward through the Strait of Tartary along the Russian shore.
It was once a landlocked sea when the land bridge of East Asia existed
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