South Aral Sea Syr Darya, would be diverted in order to irrigate cotton and food crops in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. In 1986, due to an accelerated loss of water, the Aral Sea was split into northern and southern parts; the northern part is the current North Aral Sea. In 2007, the western basin had a salinity of 70 g/l and the eastern basin 100 g/l. Once the water level falls below the connecting channel (elevation 29 m), the salinities can be expected to diverge further. Under current conditions, the eastern basin may receive water from the Amu Darya in wet years, fluctuating in
Seto Inland Sea on a cruise on the Setuchi. Some sites along the Seto Inland Sea were featured in eighth-century Japanese literature, both in prose and in verse, including "Kojiki", "Nihon Shoki", and "Man'yōshū". Since some sites were used as places of exile, their feeling and landscape were evoked in waka. In fiction, in "The Tale of Genji", Genji fled from Kyoto and resided in Suma (now a part of Kobe) and Akashi for two years. In medieval literature, because of the Genpei War, the Seto Inland Sea is one of the important backgrounds of "The Tale of the Heike", particularly in its