Where do the Japanese people originate from? Where did they migrate from?

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space

Saying ancient China is a cop out answer and it is more complex then that. The Paleolithic populations of Japan, as well as the later Jōmon populations, appear to relate to an ancient Paleo-Asian group which occupied large parts of Asia before the expansion of the populations characteristic of today's people of China, Korea, and Japan.

The Japanese Paleolithic (旧石器時代, kyū-sekki-jidai?) covers a period from around 100,000[1] to 30,000 BCE, when the earliest stone tool implements have been found, to around 14,000 BCE[2], at the end of the last Ice-age, which corresponds to the beginning of the Mesolithic Jōmon period. The 35,000 BCE date is most generally accepted: any date of human presence before 30,000–35,000 BCE is controversial, with artifacts supporting a pre–35,000 BCE human presence on the archipelago still being of questionable authenticity.[3]

The Japanese archipelago was probably connected to the Asian mainland on several occasions in the past, especially during the coldest periods of the Ice Age, when the level of the sea would recede considerably, by around 100–120 meters. This point is not totally clear of controversy, however, since the Korea Strait between the Japanese islands and Korean peninsula, as well as the Tsugaru Strait between the Japanese main island of Honshū and Hokkaidō are around 140 meters deep. It seems the straits sometimes cleared, and sometimes did not clear, during the various Ice Age peaks.

The Paleolithic populations of Japan, as well as the later Jōmon populations, appear to relate to an ancient Paleo-Asian group which occupied large parts of Asia before the expansion of the populations characteristic of today's people of China, Korea, and Japan.

Skeletal characteristics point to many similarities with other aboriginal people of the Asian continent. Dental structures belong to the Sundadont group, mainly distributed in ancient populations of South-East Asia (where current populations belong to the Sinodont group). Skull features tend to be stronger, with comparatively recessed eyes.

The aboriginal populations of the Ainu, today mostly confined to the northern island of Hokkaidō, appear to be the descendants of these Paleolithic populations, and display features that have, in the past, been interpreted as Caucasoid, but today tend to be considered more generally as part of that early Paleolithic human stock.

Genetic analysis on today's populations is not clear-cut and tends to indicate a fair amount of genetic intermixing between the earliest populations of Japan and later arrivals (Cavalli-Sforza). It is estimated that 10 to 20% of the genetic capital of the Japanese population today derives from the aboriginal Paleolithic-Jōmon ancestry, with the remainder coming from later migrations from the continent, especially during the Yayoi period.

You want a piece of me

East Africa

Joriental

Thomas Huxley showed the Geographical Distribution of the Chief Modifications of Mankind in 1870's.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Huxley_races.png

Today, according to the recent research, it is elucidated that Japanese, and Buryats and Mongolians around Lake Baikal (Russia) shares the same DNA.
Mongoloid can be the origin of all Asian people.

And over 60 traits of the people in the entire world are found in Japanese DNA.
Gene hunters (scholars) says the first trend of DNA moving is both from the north (Russia) and south (Taiwan or Fujian, the south east China) to Japan.

--
Thanks H. Tanaka. Check the Coat of arms and flags of the Buryats's countries (Buryat Republic, Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug and Agin-Buryat Autonomous Okrug). You will be surprised.

Mr Canoe

Wow, a lot of ridiculous answers.

This is a much more complex question than some people may think. There are a lot of theories, but no real answers. Some scientists say that because Japan was at one time connected to the Asian mainland, Japanese people came from China and the Korean peninsula. In Hokkaido, there are people called Ainu, although most have now been assimilated into the Japanese mainstream. Ainu are also on the Kuril islands (in dispute with Russia) and Sakhalin (Russian territory). Hokkaido is now populated by Japanese mostly from the Tokyo area. When Japan conquered Hokkaido, the government sent people from Edo (Tokyo) to colonise Hokkaido. This is still evident by the very standard dialect of Hokkaido similar to that of the Kanto area, but just across the Tsugaru Strait on Honshu, between Hokkaido and Kanto is the almost uninteligable Tohoku dialect.

The official Japanese position is that Japan is a homogenious society, but many scientists believe that Japanese people migrated not only from the Asian mainland but also from the South Pacific. The people of Okinawa are descendants of the Rykyu Kingdom which was conquered by Japan. The people there are, of course, of Ryukyu origin, although their language was officially banned in previous generations, and not many people now can speak it. Okinawans are said by Japanese to have lighter skin and rounder faces than Japanese.

Hats off to space for a detailed answer. As for the rest...geez.

dangoyorihana

We all originally came from Africa. More recently though, humans would have crossed the Korean peninsula to the Japanese Islands, mainly from China, Mongolia, and Korea.

There were several large migrations, and this is reflected in the culture such as religion, art, and language.

One of the first groups of people to live in Japan were the Ainu. They have almost caucasian features to them.

michael n

all asian people are origionally of mongol decent. they are referred to as mongoloids, in the same way the all eurpeans are referred to as caucasians

uhhh.....japan maybe

just a thought

Tanaka

Mongolia or somewhere near the area.
The evidence is in our language.
Despite their apparent similarities, Chinese and Japanese are completely different languages. On the other hand Japanese and Mongol share the same features.
People may think of China as one entity, but that's not true. I doubt that they can even tell China from Mongolia. China's population consists of widely different ethnicities. Aside from the languages, I remember watching a tv documentary and being pretty impressed that people living in the part of China close to Mongolia looked very much like Japanese, way more than Han people*1 do.
They were in fact almost like us despite hugely different cultural and living backgrounds.
So my guess is that most of us came from the northern part of the Eurasia continent.

*1 the largest race in China.

EDIT. I'm glad that Joriental's theory based upon DNA evidence seems to corroborate my impression. I remember that the people living near the lake looked amazingly like us!

EDITx2:
Thanks Joriental. Yes they're pretty amazing. And I find myself infatuated with the way these countries sound!

FR80C@

I would guess Japan. Just a guess.

presidentofallantarctica

The Japanese islands were originally uninhabited (of course). They were first used as hideouts for pirates from the far east mainland (the first Japanese alphabet was based on Chinese writing). When they raided the mainland and captured women, they brought the women back to the hideouts, and the women and children turned the hideouts into towns and cities, and eventually a civilization. The first Japanese Emperor was crowned 2,666 years ago.

Like the Vikings of Iceland, the early practice of woman stealing may have led to a generally more pulchritudinous phenotype for the culture.

house_music_addict

they share similar features with chinese, so definitely they are chinese in origin. and, well, they are close to china.

you can't shut me up

from where the sun rises

Jeremy

China. Originally, they came from China

larry g

Asia and Asia

r00mi3 69

Ancient China.

Joe B

long ago in China. when it wasnt so huge

ShibaInu ピッポが大好き。

The japanese are a homogeneous race, made up of various populations mixed together in different ages.
My family for example came from Southern China about 1500 years ago, like many other aristocratic families and lived near Nara and Kyoto for a long period of time.

ku4t

cf.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_people#Origins

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