We Westerners may know more about Japan than any other nation on the planet. Meaning comes from the admiration that comes with knowing a culture that is so unknown and different in many ways. However, although we could list the countless elements we have deciphered about its history and culture, perhaps the most decisive one was missing. Origin of the modern population. A study deciphered this.

News. After years of debate and studies that destroyed others, a few months ago a seemingly decisive study emerged. It was later said that the genes of modern Japanese may hide a lineage of long-lost ancestors who once migrated to the top of the archipelago from northeastern mainland Asia.

New study recently published from the University of Tokyo has revealed important new evidence about the origins of the population. Moreover, it challenges previous theories and provides a more nuanced understanding of the genetic formation process. Key point: ancient DNA analysis that allowed us to develop an ancestral model of the Japanese population.

Previous models. Early studies date back to the 1950s, when researchers proposed a dual ancestry model to explain the nation’s origins and subsequently proposed that the population consisted of two main groups: the Jomon (indigenous hunter-gatherers) and the Yayoi (immigrants). from the Asian continent, mainly from the Korean Peninsula). A 2021 study turned out to change everything: A trio of ancestors was proposed by adding another unknown group from Northeast Asia.

This theory was supported by another study in 2024 that analyzed the DNA of 3,200 Japanese people in different parts of the country and confirmed admixture between the Jomon, Yayoi and a group from Northeast Asia. Of course, it was a theory that lacked the most important thing: explaining how this mixing occurred or how it affected agricultural and linguistic practices.

New study. The study at the University of Tokyo provided the clearest and most conclusive evidence to date through analysis of ancient DNA. Researchers sequenced the DNA of a 2,300-year-old Yayoi period woman whose remains were discovered in 1952 in the Doigahama ruins in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

This site, which apparently contains the remains of 300 individuals from the Yayoi period, was key to the initial development of the dual lineage model due to the differences observed between Yayoi and Jomon remains.

Genetics of the Japanese. Even so, genetic analysis confirmed the existence of three ancestral groups in modern Japanese: Jomon, Yayoi, and Northeast Asian. But the crucial study made an important adjustment to the previous model, concluding that the Northeast Asian group did not come to Japan independently. On the contrary, it had already mixed with the Yayoi before migrating to the Japanese archipelago. This discovery partially contradicts the 2021 model, which suggested that the three populations arrived separately.

genetic model. To reach this conclusion, they used a genetic model to analyze how modern Koreans with genetic components from East Asia and Northeast Asia mixed with the Jomon population in Japan. Applying this model, they found surprising similarities with the DNA of modern Japanese; This strengthens the hypothesis that the Yayoi already had contact with the Northeast Asian group before arriving in the country.

Yes, the Korean “race” were the key “neighbours” in today’s Japanese society.

Effects. This study also represents an important step in understanding how the Japanese population formed through immigration and mixing of indigenous peoples. The researchers concluded that although there is a triple ancestor in modern Japanese, these groups did not migrate independently but mixed into the Asian continent earlier.

In fact, this genetic mixing reflects a much more complex process than previously thought; Therefore, they plan to study the genomes of more individuals from the Yayoi period to better understand how this combination occurred.

Finally, this finding reinforces the idea that over 80% of the modern Japanese population comes from immigration, not just native Jomon. By shedding light on how mainland Asian and Jomon populations interact, this study marks a turning point in understanding the genetic evolution of Japan.

Image | Public domain, Godfoon

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