A long archipelago that skirts the eastern seas of Asia was the old name for what we {the world} now know as Japan. Japan used to be inhabited by a people named the Ainus. Ainu means man {in their own language}, add an "s" and you get men. Another name that substitutes for the Ainus is "hairy aborigines." Well at least that's what some people call them.

About 2,500 years ago parties of invaders settled on Japan and drove the Ainus out, although it is not certain where they came from. Hypotheses suggests that the invaders came across the Sea of Japan from Asia by use of the Korean Peninsula.

Predominance of the Chinese features in the Western Islands is naturally explained by the connection by sea between that part of Japan and the mouth of the Yang-Tze River. On the other hand; the existence of a southern element may be concluded from the fact that the southern parts are said to have been disturbed by invaders from farther south called the Haya-to or Falcon-men in English and the Kuma-so or Bear-race. Japan is mainly four islands: the Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and the Shikoku islands.