OCEAN · OCEANS & SEAS · PACIFIC OCEAN

Japan Sea

The Japan Sea is a sea of the Pacific Ocean, covering 1,066,307 km² — the #24 largest of the world's 101 named ocean and sea areas. Here's how it ranks, what borders it, and the live conditions at its centre right now.

JAPAN SEA · THE FACTS
Parent oceanPacific Ocean
Area1,066,307 km²
Size rank#24 of 101
Larger than77% of named seas

Boundaries & area: Marine Regions (VLIZ), IHO Sea Areas v3 — from the IHO “Limits of Oceans & Seas” (S-23). MRGID 4307.

AT THE HEART OF THE JAPAN SEA · RIGHT NOW
Sea temperature23.1°C / 73.6°F
Wave height0.4 m
Surface current0.4 km/h E

Live from Open-Meteo Marine at 40.5°, 135.1° (the sea's representative centre). A near-real-time model estimate.

How deep is the Japan Sea?

The IHO sea-area dataset that draws this map records each sea's name, boundary and surface area — not its depth, which varies enormously from the shallow shelf at its edges to its deepest trench. Rather than quote a single misleading number, we measure the water column directly: the live ocean currents trace its motion, and the deep-ocean layers (Argo floats and the descend-here column, coming to the Ocean canvas) read real temperature and depth as you go down.

SEE IT ON THE MAP

See the Japan Sea coloured on the live oceans-&-seas map.

Open the seas map →