Devil's Sea

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Map of the Izu Islands, centre of the Devil's Sea legend.

Miyake Island about 100 km south of Tokyo

Miyake Island from Kozu Island

The Devil's Sea (魔の海, Ma no Umi^?) or Dragon's Triangle or The Pacific Bermuda Triangle is a region of the Pacific around Miyake Island, about 100 km south of Tokyo. One of the triangle's corners is said to be on the island of Guam. 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 are said to 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°.

Among the phenomena reported in the Devil's Sea are the loss of ships and planes (more than the Bermuda Triangle), numerous ghost ships, unidentified craft and USO's, missing time, and is even said to explain the disappearance of Amelia Earhart.^{[citation needed]}

Explanation of Amelia Earhart's disappearance is discussed during the program The Pacific Bermuda Triangle, aired on The History Channel.

[edit] Charles Berlitz's claims

The Devil's triangle is said to be a danger zone on Japanese maps according to Charles Berlitz's The Dragon's Triangle (1989). He states that in the peacetime years between 1952-54 Japan lost 5 military vessels with crews lost totaling over 700 people; that the Japanese government, curious to know why they were losing ships and personnel, funded a research vessel boarded by over 100 scientists to study the Devil's Sea; and lastly that the vessel then disappeared and Japan labeled the area as a danger zone.

According to Larry Kusche's investigation, these "military vessels" were 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 Japanese research vessel that Berlitz named, Kaiyo Maru No 5, had a crew of 31 aboard. While investigating activity of an undersea volcano, Myōjin-shō, about 300 km south of the Devil's Sea, it was destroyed by an eruption on 24 September 1952. Some wreckage was recovered. ^[1]