POPULATION: 125 million RELIGION: Shinto; Buddhism;
Confucianism; Christianity 1 • INTRODUCTION The Japanese islands
have been inhabited by humans since Paleolithic times.
Archaeologists there have discovered some of the oldest pottery
known to exist. Migration has not been a significant feature of
Japan's history. The Japanese are a mixture of northeast Asians
with others from the China coast, Southeast Asia, and Polynesia.
By the Heian Period (AD 794–1185), the dominant Japanese
population extended control over the northern region of the
island of Honshu, displacing (pushing aside) the indigenous
(native) Ainu people. In the nineteenth century, the Ainu were
displaced from the island of Hokkaido when the majority Japanese
settled there. Throughout Japan's history, the government has
been dominated by emperors, whose authority has decreased in
modern times. During various historical periods, the Japanese
government has been in the hands of the military (bakufu) , with
power shifted to warriors (samurais). Ja