This guest editorial introduces Island Studies Journal’s special thematic section on ‘Maritime and island culture along the Kuroshio Current’. Although the islands of Far East Asia are typically studied individually or within national frameworks, they are in fact joined together by the Kuroshio Current, the world’s second-large ocean current. Over the millennia, lifestyles, technologies, religions, and other cultural practices have spread along the Kuroshio Current, leading to the formation of a distinctive oceanic cultural sphere. In order to understand the island cultures within the region, one must take into account interconnections facilitated by the Kuroshio Current. This special thematic section includes papers on sea deity beliefs, pork food culture, and place naming on islands along the Kuroshio Current, with special focus on Jeju (Korea), Zhoushan Archipelago (China), Green Island (Taiwan), and the Ryūkyū Islands (Japan).

中文翻译：

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黑潮海域的海洋和岛屿文化

这篇客座社论介绍了《岛屿研究杂志》关于“黑潮沿岸的海上和岛屿文化”的专题专栏。尽管通常对远东亚洲岛屿进行单独研究或在国家框架内进行研究，但实际上，世界第二大洋流黑潮洋流将它们结合在一起。几千年来，生活方式，技术，宗教和其他文化习俗沿着黑潮流传开来，形成了独特的海洋文化领域。为了了解该地区的岛屿文化，必须考虑到黑潮潮流带来的相互联系。这个特别的主题部分包括有关海洋神信仰，猪肉饮食文化以及在黑潮海域沿岸岛屿命名的论文，重点是济州岛（韩国），