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The Devil's Sea (Ma no Umi), Japan.

The Devil's Sea (Ma no Umi), Japan 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.

Miyake

Miyake Island about 100 km south of Tokyo

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 any more mysterious or dangerous than other coastal waters of Japan.

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 crew's 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."

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°.

As is the case with all things mysterious, there are many theories regarding the Devil's Sea. One of the most prominent is that there is a large amount of volcanic activity around the area, and an underwater volcano could obliterate a ship without a trace.

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.

References:

Kusche, Lawrence David (1975). The Bermuda Triangle mystery - solved. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-012475-X.