Aral Sea fate. Since the disappearance of the Southeast Aral in 2008, Vozrozhdeniya effectively no longer exists as a distinct geographical feature. The area is now shared by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. In 1948, a top-secret Soviet bioweapons laboratory was established on the island, in the centre of the Aral Sea which is now disputed territory between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The exact history, functions and current status of this facility are still unclear, but bio-agents tested there included "Bacillus anthracis", "Coxiella burnetii", "Francisella tularensis", "Brucella suis", "Rickettsia prowazekii", "Variola major" (smallpox), "Yersinia pestis", botulinum toxin, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus. In 1971, weaponized
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