Sagami Bay

Sagami Bay (相模湾, "Sagami-wan"), also known as the Sagami Gulf or Sagami Sea, lies south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshū, central Japan, with the Miura Peninsula to its east and the Izu Peninsula to its west. It lies approximately 40 kilometres (25 miles) southwest of the capital, Tokyo. Major cities on the bay include Chigasaki, Fujisawa, Hiratsuka, Ito and Kamakura, including the fictional city of Hinata.

History

The epicenter of the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923 was deep beneath Izu Ōshima Island in Sagami Bay. It devastated Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama, surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Shizuoka, and caused widespread damage throughout the Kantō region. [Hammer, Joshua. (2006). [http://books.google.com/books?id=6O8VyhDbUPgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=yokohama+burning&sig=rbgbEDXJV5fht4wdSD1HBoAMANg#PPA278,M1 "Yokohama Burning: the Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire that Helped Forge the Path to World War II," p. 278] .]

Natural environment

A branch of the warm "Kuroshio" (Black Current) warms the bay, allowing it to host marine organisms typical of more southerly regions and giving a mild climate to the land bordering the bay. The maximum depth of the bay is about 1500 meters.

Organisms from sub-arctic regions are also advected into the bay by intrusions of the Oyashio Current resulting in a very high [biodiversity] . [ [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=315031 CJO - Abstract - Biodiversity in midwater cnidarians and ctenophores: submersible-based results from deep-water bays in the Japan Sea and north-western Pacific ] ] It is the major study site for research programs at the University of Tokyo (ORI) and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC).

In 2004, soil samples from the bay were found to contain radioactive contamination from the Bikini Atoll nuclear tests that took place from 1946 to 1958. [ [http://www.zhb.gov.cn/english/chanel-1/detail-1.php3?chanel=1&column=a&id=9561 SEPA ] ]

Notes

References

* Hammer, Joshua. (2006). [http://books.google.com/books?id=6O8VyhDbUPgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Tokyo+1923&lr=&source=gbs_summary_r "Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire that Helped Forge the Path to World War II."] New York: Simon & Schuster. 10-ISBN 0-743-26465-7; 13-ISBN 978-0-743-26465-5 (cloth)