Tsushima Strait - Geography

Geography

The strait measures approximately 100 kilometres along Tsushima Island and is about 65 kilometres wide at its narrowest. The strait has a depth of about 90 metres and is bounded by the Tsushima Islands to the west through north (of Gotō Islands). Nearby Iki Island lies in the strait about 50 kilometres towards Kyūshū from the southern tip of Kamino-shima (South Island).

The Tsushima Current, a warm branch of the Kuroshio (Japan Current) passes through the strait. Originating along the Japanese islands, this current passes through the Sea of Japan then a branch eventually flowing into the Pacific Northern Pacific Ocean via the Tsugaru Strait south of Hokkaido. Another branch continues far northward and divides along either shore of Sakhalin Island; eventually flowing into the Sea of Okhotsk via the La Perouse Strait north of Hokkaido and via the Strait of Tartary into the Sea of Okhotsk north of Sakhalin Island near Vladivostok.

The Tsushima Current brings rich fisheries resources from the East China Sea into the Sea of Japan, like Japanese amberjack, Japanese horse mackerel, but these days also brings disaster like mass aggregation of gigantic Nomura's jellyfish and waste from countries along the course of the current.

A commercial ferry service operates between Shimonoseki at the western tip of Honshu and Busan (aka Pusan), South Korea. Another operates between Shimonoseki and Tsushima Island. The cities of Kitakyushu (Kyushu) and Shimonoseki (Honshu) are joined by an ocean-spanning bridge across the Kanmon Strait joining those cities with Nagasaki, which latter city serves as prefecture-level capital and administers both Tsushima and Iki Island. The Kanmon Strait lies approximately 85 miles (135 km) due east of the center of Tsushima Island, while Nagasaki city proper lies about 100 miles (165 km) to the south-south-east of the southern tip of the island.