Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Japan current \Japan current\
   A branch of the equatorial current of the Pacific, washing
   the eastern coast of Formosa and thence flowing northeastward
   past Japan and merging into the easterly drift of the North
   Pacific; -- called also {Kuro-Siwo}, or {Black Stream}, in
   allusion to the deep blue of its water. It is similar in may
   ways to the Gulf Stream.