Philippine Sea in the context of "Japanese archipelago"

The Daitō Islands (Japanese: 大東諸島, Hepburn: Daitō-shotō) are an archipelago consisting of three isolated coral islands, administered by Japan, in the Philippine Sea southeast of Okinawa. The islands have a total area of 44.427 square kilometers (17.153 sq mi) and a population of 2,107.

Administratively, the whole group belongs to Shimajiri District of Okinawa Prefecture, and is divided between the villages of Minamidaitō and Kitadaitō, with uninhabited Okidaitōjima island administered as part of Kitadaitō municipality, although physically located closer to Minamidaitōjima.

Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The island of Taiwan, formerly known to Westerners as Formosa, has an area of 35,808 square kilometres (13,826 sq mi) and makes up 99% of the land under ROC control. It lies about 180 kilometres (112 mi) across the Taiwan Strait from the southeastern coast of the Mainland China. The East China Sea is to the north of the island, the Philippine Sea to its east, the Luzon Strait directly to its south, and the South China Sea to its southwest. The ROC also controls a number of smaller islands, including the Penghu archipelago in the Taiwan Strait, Kinmen and Matsu in Fuchien near the Mainland coast, as well as Pratas and Taiping in the South China Sea.

Geologically, the main island comprises a tilted fault block, characterized by the contrast between the eastern two-thirds, consisting mostly of five rugged mountain ranges running parallel to the east coast, and the flat to gently rolling plains of the western third, where the majority of the population resides. Several peaks exceed 3,500 m in height – the highest, Yu Shan at 3,952 m (12,966 ft), makes Taiwan the world's fourth-highest island. The tectonic boundary that formed these ranges remains active, and the island experiences many earthquakes, some of them highly destructive. There are also many active submarine volcanoes in the Taiwan Straits.

The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luzon, Mindoro, and Palawan), and in the south by Borneo, eastern Sumatra, and the Bangka Belitung Islands, encompassing an area of around 3,500,000 km (1,400,000 sq mi). It communicates with the East China Sea via the Taiwan Strait, the Philippine Sea via the Luzon Strait, the Sulu Sea via the straits around Palawan, the Java Sea via the Karimata and Bangka Straits, and directly with the Gulf of Thailand. Additionally, the Gulf of Tonkin is part of the South China Sea.

$3.4 trillion of the world's $16 trillion maritime shipping passed through the South China Sea in 2016. Oil and natural gas reserves have been found in the area. The Western Central Pacific accounted for 14% of the world's commercial fishing in 2010.

The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of 7,641 islands, with a total area of roughly 300,000 square kilometers, which are broadly categorized in three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. With a population of over 112 million, it is the world's fourteenth-most-populous country.

The Philippines is bounded by the South China Sea to the west, the Philippine Sea to the east, and the Celebes Sea to the south. It shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Japan and the Korean Peninsula to the northeast, Palau to the east and southeast, Indonesia to the south, Malaysia to the southwest, Vietnam to the west, and China to the northwest. It has diverse ethnicities and a rich culture. Manila is the country's capital, and its most populated city is Quezon City. Both are within Metro Manila.

The Mariana Islands (/ˌmæriˈɑːnə/ MARR-ee-AH-nə; Chamorro: Manislan Mariånas), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east. They lie south-southeast of Japan, west-southwest of Hawaii, north of New Guinea, and east of the Philippines, demarcating the Philippine Sea's eastern limit. They are found in the northern part of the western Oceanic sub-region of Micronesia, and are politically divided into two jurisdictions of the United States: the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and, at the southern end of the chain, the territory of Guam. The islands were named after the influential Spanish queen Mariana of Austria following their colonization in the 17th century.

The indigenous inhabitants are the Chamorro people. Archaeologists in 2013 reported findings which indicated that the people who first settled the Marianas arrived there after making what may have been at the time the longest uninterrupted ocean voyage in human history. They further reported findings which suggested that Tinian is likely to have been the first island in Oceania to have been settled by humans.

The San Bernardino Strait (Filipino: Kipot ng San Bernardino) is a strait in the Philippines, connecting the Samar Sea with the Philippine Sea. It separates the Bicol Peninsula of Luzon from Samar of Visayas.

Samar (/ˈsɑːmɑːr/ SAH-mar) is the third largest island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,924,651 as of the 2024 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas and its main language and ethnicity is Waray while its main religion is Roman Catholic. Since 1965, the island is divided into three provinces: Western Samar, Northern Samar, and Eastern Samar. The capitals of these provinces are, respectively, Catarman, Catbalogan, and Borongan., all part of the Eastern Visayas region. In commemoration of the establishment of these provinces, June 19 is celebrated as an annual holiday. The island was first sighted by Ferdinand Magellan on March 16, 1521. Although he did not land, other expeditions were made. Many names, such as Samal, Ibabao, and Tandaya, were given to the island prior to the arrival of the Spaniards in 1596. During the early days of Spanish occupation, Samar was under the jurisdiction of Cebu. In the Philippine–American War, Eugenio Daza led a successful attack against the United States Army, later called the Balangiga massacre. This attack led to the Pacification of Samar and deaths of 2,000 people.

In the American colonization of the Philippines, two uprisings were created; the former was the Pulajan movement which caused massacres in the country. The Battle off Samar was held off the island. In the martial law under Ferdinand Marcos, the Sag-od massacre was caused. After the martial law, the island still has the New People's Army rebellion. Samar is the easternmost island in the Visayas archipelago. The island lies to the northeast of Leyte and lies to the southeast of the Bicol Peninsula on Luzon. To the west is the Samar Sea, and to the north and east of Samar lies the Philippine Sea. The island has the Samar Island Natural Park and has numerous biological discoveries and forests.