An ocean north of the equator between the eastern coast of Asia and the western coasts of the Americas, extending northward to the arctic region, with principal arms including the Gulf of Alaska, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Sea of Japan and the Bering, Yellow, East China, South China and Philippine seas, and islands including the Aleutian, Midway, Marshall and Hawaiian islands, the Japanese island arc and the Malay Archipelago.