Rescuers were searching for the remaining nine.
The 6,651-tonne Hong Kong-registered "Jintian" issued a distress
call late on Tuesday, the Japan Coast Guard said.
Media reported a person on the ship said it was listing and taking
on water, and later reports said the 22 crew - all Chinese or
Myanmar nationals - had transferred to lifeboats.
There was no immediate word on what caused the vessel, which was
carrying lumber, to capsize. A Coast Guard spokesperson said winds
were strong at the time.
The Coast Guard immediately sought assistance from patrol ships and
aircraft in the vicinity west of Nagasaki, government spokesman
Hirokazu Matsuno said.
The ship sank at 2.46 a.m. (1746 GMT on Tuesday), he added, quoting
other vessels in the area.
The Coast Guard "is also seeking cooperation from the Self-Defence
Forces, South Korean Coast Guard, and vessels sailing near the
waters", Matsuno told reporters.
Western parts of Japan were battered by winter storms that brought
freezing, windy conditions on Tuesday.
The area where the ship sank is between Nagasaki and South Korea's
Jeju island, where hundreds of flights were cancelled on Tuesday
because of harsh weather.
A ship ran aground in heavy wind off the southern Japanese islands
of Okinawa on Tuesday. The 19 crew members were rescued, media
reported.
(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura, Kaori Kaneko and Chang-Ran Kim and
Satoshi Sugiyama; Writing by Elaine Lies; Editing by Tom Hogue,
Robert Birsel and Nick Macfie)
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