JAPAN, SEA OF

Japanese Nihon-kai, Russian Yaponskoye More, also called East SeaKorean Tonghae marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean that is bounded by Japan and the Russian island of Sakhalin to the east and by Russia and Korea on the Asian mainland to the west. The sea lies in a deep basin and is separated from the East China Sea to the south by the Tsushima Strait and Korea Strait and from the Sea of Okhotsk to the north by the La Perouse (or Soya) Strait and Tatar Strait. To the east it is also connected with Japan's Inland Sea by the Kanmon Strait. The Sea of Japan covers a surface area of approximately 377,600 square miles (978,000 square km). It has a mean depth of 5,748 feet (1,752 m) and a maximum depth of 12,276 feet (3,742 m). The underwater relief of the sea is subdivided into three parts: the Japan Basin, the deepest section, in the north; the Yamato Basin in the southeast; and the Tsushima Basin, the shallowest waters, in the southwest. The continental shelves are wide on the Japanese side of the sea, but those along the fringes of Siberia and the Korean Peninsula are narrow, with an average width of about 19 miles (30 km). The Sea of Japan contributes greatly to the mild climate of Japan because of the ameliorating effect exerted by its relatively warm waters. Fisheries and mineral deposits, including magnetite sands as well as natural-gas and petroleum deposits off Japan, form the main economic resources. The sea is also increasingly being used as a commercial waterway as trade between East Asian countries grows. The Seas of Japan and Okhotsk. Japanese Nihon-kai, Russian Yaponskoye More, Korean Tonghae, marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded by Japan and Sakhalin Island to the east and by Russia and Korea on the Asian mainland to the west. (The Korean name means East Sea.) Its area is 377,600 square miles (978,000 square kilometres). It has a mean depth of 5,748 feet (1,752 metres) and a maximum depth of 12,276 feet (3,742 metres). Additional reading On the Sea of Japan, see Mark J. Valencia (ed.), International Conference on the Sea of Japan (1989), which discusses oceanography, fisheries, petroleum and minerals, trade and shipping, and environment; and Glenn T. Trewartha, Japan: A Geography (1965), which offers useful information on the climatic influence of the Sea of Japan. The Sea of Japan and other regions of the northwest Pacific are discussed in S. Chikuni, The Fish Resources of the Northwest Pacific (1985); and maritime policies are addressed in Tsuneo Akaha, Japan in Global Ocean Politics (1985). Joseph R. Morgan