Devil's Sea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Miyake Island about 100 km south of Tokyo

Miyake Island from Kozu Island

The Devil's Sea (魔の海, Ma no Umi^?) is a region of the Pacific around Miyake Island, about 100 km south of Tokyo. Although the name is used by Japanese fishermen, it does not appear on nautical maps.

In popular culture, especially in the United States, the Devil's Sea is widely believed to be, together with the Bermuda Triangle, an area where ships and planes particularly often disappear under mysterious circumstances. The Japanese, on the other hand, do not consider the Devil's Sea to be more mysterious or dangerous than other coastal waters of Japan.

Contrary to several claims, neither the Devil's Sea nor the Bermuda Triangle is located on the agonic line, where the magnetic north equals the geographic north. The magnetic declination in this area is about 6°.

The tale of Urashima Taro, a fisherman that is kept out of the normal time course, is seen by some as an early reference to the Devil's Sea. However the story is widespread throughout Oceania, and has parallels in Europe.

[edit] Charles Berlitz's claims

The Devil's Sea actually is a danger zone on Japanese maps according to Charles Berlitz's The Bermuda Triangle. "in the peacetime years between 1952-54 Japan lost 5 military vessels with crews lost totalling over 700 people. Japan, curious to know why they were losing all their stuff, funded a research vessel boarded by over 100 scientists to study the devil's sea. this vessel then disappeared and Japan labeled the area as a danger zone."

According to Larry Kusche's investigation, these "military vessels" were, actually, fishing vessels, and some of them were lost outside the Devil's Sea, even as far as near Iwo Jima, 1000 km to the south. He also points out that, at that time, hundreds of fishing boats were lost around Japan every year.

The research vessel Berlitz names, Kaiyo Maru No 5, with 31 people on the board, was, actually, investigating activity of an udersea volcano, Myojin-sho, about 300 km south of the Devil's Sea, and was destroyed by its eruption on 24 September 1952. Some wreckage was recovered. [1].