Changes

*''Period: 300 BCE - c. 250 CE''

*''Period: 1000 BCE - c. 250 CE''

*''Japanese'': 弥生時代 ''(Yayoi jidai)''

*''Japanese'': 弥生時代 ''(Yayoi jidai)''

Genetic tests have tentatively suggested that the Japanese people today are more similar genetically to modern-day Koreans, and to the Yayoi people, than to the Jômon people, though those from the far north and far south of Japan continue to show a greater proportion of Jômon genetic markers than do people from central Japan; such studies also suggest that the [[Ainu]] are particularly genetically similar to the Jômon people, albeit with some evidence of intermingling with the Yayoi population.<ref name=craig46/>

Genetic tests have tentatively suggested that the Japanese people today are more similar genetically to modern-day Koreans, and to the Yayoi people, than to the Jômon people, though those from the far north and far south of Japan continue to show a greater proportion of Jômon genetic markers than do people from central Japan; such studies also suggest that the [[Ainu]] are particularly genetically similar to the Jômon people, albeit with some evidence of intermingling with the Yayoi population.<ref name=craig46/>

Some scholars argue that rice cultivation was first introduced by people from the Asian mainland who first traveled to the [[Yaeyama Islands]] from the Jiangnan region of China (i.e. south of the Yangtze River basin) around 500-300 BCE, and who then made their way, via the [[Kuroshio current]], to Kyushu.<ref>Kreiner, Josef. "Ryukyuan History in Comparative Perspective." in Kreiner (ed.) ''Ryukyu in World History''. Bonn: Biersche Verlagsanstalt, 2001. p2.</ref> Some sources point to earlier carbon dating evidence, and place the beginning of the Yayoi period several centuries earlier, possibly as early as c. 900 BCE.<ref>Schirokauer et al., 8.</ref>

Some scholars argue that rice cultivation was first introduced by people from the Asian mainland who first traveled to the [[Yaeyama Islands]] from the Jiangnan region of China (i.e. south of the Yangtze River basin) around 500-300 BCE, and who then made their way, via the [[Kuroshio current]], to Kyushu.<ref>Kreiner, Josef. "Ryukyuan History in Comparative Perspective." in Kreiner (ed.) ''Ryukyu in World History''. Bonn: Biersche Verlagsanstalt, 2001. p2.</ref> Some sources point to earlier carbon dating evidence, and place the beginning of the Yayoi period several centuries earlier, possibly as early as c. 1000 BCE.<ref>Schirokauer et al., 8., [[Richard Pearson]], ''Ancient Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii Press (2013), 13.</ref>

Technologies including intensive agriculture, ironworking, and bronze casting, along with new techniques for weaving and woodworking, appear earliest in [[Kyushu]], and are gradually seen to have spread north into the rest of the archipelago. Jômon culture persisted in [[Tohoku|Tôhoku]] and [[Hokkaido|Hokkaidô]] for centuries afterwards, while the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]] similarly followed its own distinct path.<ref>See [[Periods of Okinawan History]].</ref> In most of Japan, people began to cultivate rice in wet rice paddies, as well as other grains including barley and millet; use of seafood and marine products, as well as fruits, nuts, and other forest products, expanded as well.  

Technologies including intensive agriculture, ironworking, and bronze casting, along with new techniques for weaving and woodworking, appear earliest in [[Kyushu]], and are gradually seen to have spread north into the rest of the archipelago. Jômon culture persisted in [[Tohoku|Tôhoku]] and [[Hokkaido|Hokkaidô]] for centuries afterwards, while the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]] similarly followed its own distinct path.<ref>See [[Periods of Okinawan History]].</ref> In most of Japan, people began to cultivate rice in wet rice paddies, as well as other grains including barley and millet; use of seafood and marine products, as well as fruits, nuts, and other forest products, expanded as well.