ABSTRACT
There is no definitive evidence concerning when and from whence the original inhabitants arrived in Japan, but it is assumed that they came from different areas of the Asian continent and the South Pacific region. The predominant strain is Mongoloid, including a considerable mixture of people of Malayan origin. The Japanese language appears to be related to both the Polynesian and the Altaic languages. Evidence suggests that as early as 200,000 years ago, paleolithic humans (who used chipped stones for tools) inhabited the islands. Also among the early inhabitants of Japan were the ancestors of the Ainu, a people of proto-Caucasian origin who live in Hokkaido today. Currently only about 50,000 Ainu remain. Their early history and their relationship with the neolithic people who inhabited the islands are not known.
