1. Japan Maps

2. Japan 200 BCE In Japan, wet-rice cultivation arrived in the island of Kyushu in the middle of the 1 st millennium BC, and since then has spread gradually north and east throughout the island. The new crop had been brought by immigrants from Korea along with a fully-fledged Bronze Age culture, which in Japan is called the Yayoi. Shortly after the arrival of bronze technology, iron technology also arrived in Japan, only a couple of centuries after its first appearance in Korea. This shows the strong links that now connected the two lands.

3. Japan 200-30 BCE In Japan, the Yayoi culture, based on rice farming and possessing bronze and iron technology, expanded northward and eastward from Kyushu Island into Honshu. This led to a rise in population, and to increased warfare, leading to the rise of many powerful and warlike chiefdoms - Chinese chronicles of the period refer to the “100 kingdoms”. This situation is revealed in the remains of well constructed wooden hilltop fortresses dating from this era. At least some of these chiefdoms paid some for of tribute to the imperial Han court in China.