An interesting article on the enigmatic origins of the modern Japanese has popped up in Discover Magazine’s Human Evolution section.  It’s about a 10-minute read (which is a lot in internet time), so I’ve made a list of interesting points for the lazy ones.

• Like the Indians in North America, it is likely the hairy Aino people were the original inhabitants of Japan, pushed out by the hairless Asians when the Korea Strait was frozen.  This is supported by the oldest tools of the hairless ones being found in the southwest and the Aino people slowly moving northeast.

• Ancestors of modern Japanese people followed prospering lands from southwest to northeast, rich in sustenance.  Japan apparently became rich in resources in this direction, and as this cultivation spread, so did the nomads.

• The oldest piece of pottery in the world is from Japan, from the Jomon (pottery) era.  It is amazing because Jomon people were hunter-gatherers, but were the first to create a very popular item in sendentary life.  Both their population and temporary housing were huge for hunter-gatherers, but most likely due to the wealth of seafood, nuts, and plants avaiable around them.

• The closest language to Japanese is Korean, yet they are as similar as English is to Russian.  Japanese appears to be the most mysterious modern language today, having no known predecessor.

• Japan did not have writing or metal tools for thousands of years after Korea and China did.  When they did get metal tools (400 B.C.), ushering in the Yayoi era, they resembled Korean styles.  Yayoi pottery became Korean in style too.  Whether this meant Korean slaves were force to make them or Koreans replaced the Jomon people is a heated debate, but the trend flowed once again from southwest Japan to northwest.

• Japan got rice from Korea.  Korea was the first to create a cold-resistant strain of rice, necessary to grow in the colder latitude (compared to Southern China, where it originated) which could be brought and raised in Japan.  Again, whether this indicates Korea or Japan taking over is still under scrutiny by both sides, but Yayoi farming is what accelerated Japan into modernity.

• 712 AD was when the Japan we know came into existence.  Before then, it was unknown who was doing what, and what was what.  Japanese writing showed up, and Japan also became a distinct entity from Korea.

• Three theories between Japan and Korea exist.  One says Japan took over Korea, other says Korea took over Japan, and the last one meets in the cushy middle, saying there was mixing, sharing, and traveling between the two countries.  I personally want a theory for why Asian men are hairless, while the Aino people had real men.

• Asians are hot, war or not.  Ok, not stated explicitly, but it’s the take-home message, the conclusion of this long article.  Read it and you’ll see that was the whole point the author was getting at.

There are a couple more articles about Asians in the Human Evolution section worth reading, but none as enlightening as this one.