The U.S. and Japan are taking no chances, however, positioning ships in the Pacific and the Sea of Japan with the capability of tracking ballistic missiles as well as shooting them down if need be.
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This means vulnerability to interruption due to blockages to sea-lanes from Japan to Australia, to Iran, to Saudi Arabia, to Indonesia and across the Sea of Japan to Russia.
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On Tuesday, Yediot Aharonot reported that Israeli analysts who reviewed videotapes of North Korea's missile tests concluded that alongside the various short range Scuds it sent over the Sea of Japan, Pyongyang also launched a Taeopodong-2 multi-stage long range missile capable of reaching Alaska.
Two Aegis ships patrolling the Sea of Japan could theoretically defend the nation from attacks.
Two Aegis ships patrolling in the Sea of Japan could theoretically defend the nation from missile attacks.
It's not clear why waves of Nomura's jellyfish have made it to the Sea of Japan in recent years.
The launch succeeded after an earlier attempt crashed in the Sea of Japan.
Rajin-Sonbong (or Rason, for short) lies by the Sea of Japan in the country's north-east, near the border with Russia.
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Across the Sea of Japan in China, ICBC is the largest and most profitable commercial bank in the world.
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The company initially said there was no release of radiation, but admitted later that the quake released radiation and spilled radioactive water into the Sea of Japan.
They had giant-jellyfish invasions in 2005 and 2007, and because they've recently been spotted in the Sea of Japan, they're bracing for another, potentially harmful wave this summer.
Japanese F-2 fighter jets were scrambled, as the Russian Su-27 planes flew south over the Sea of Japan before turning back to the north, Japan's Kyodo news agency said.
The nearest that it has got to predicting a big tremor was in 1983 when a foreshock pointed a finger at a subsequent magnitude 7.7 earthquake within the Sea of Japan.
They have since been pushed into the Sea of Japan by a branch of the warm Kuroshio current that is running much closer to land than usual, and have spread up Japan's west coast and even through the Tsugaru strait between Japan's main island, Honshu, and northern Hokkaido into the Pacific Ocean.
The intelligence official, who could also not be named for security reasons, said the launches came as no surprise because North Korea had issued a warning to mariners to avoid an area in the Sea of Japan at certain times between June 24 and July 9 because of a "military firing exercise, " according to a U.S. military communication about the warning provided to CNN.
Call it proof that there's a global wireless karma equilibrium, if you will, that needs to be maintained: China Unicom has warned that its net profit for 2009 will be down a whopping 50 percent, while one of its doppelgangers across the Sea of Japan -- NTT DoCoMo -- has encountered exactly the opposite fortune on news that it has posted a 48 percent year-over-year improvement in black ink.
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His aim during a 100-day voyage that will take him from San Francisco, California, to Sydney, Australia, is to find the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" between California and Japan -- a massive sea of plastic trash that environmentalists say could soon be larger than the continental United States.
China has called off a scheduled round of talks with Japan over the exploitation of gasfields under the East China Sea.
About half of all US troops based in Japan are stationed in Okinawa, which lies south of Japan's main islands in the East China Sea.
Of particular importance for Japan is keeping sea lanes open and protecting international commerce.
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These raised the sea level, producing Japan's meandering modern coastline with its prolific crops of shellfish and edible seaweed, and also permitted the spread of deciduous forests, which provide a cornucopia of nuts, berries and shoots that do not run away.
Now that Japan faces the task of rebuilding its coastal communities, can it cast its relationship with the sea in a new light?
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