Japan's position in the future world may be even more significant than its position today. The greatest problem facing mankind during the next few generations may well lie in the vast chasm that is opening up between the rich industrialized nations and the poor pre industrial or semi-industrialized lands. This is a unique position and one that may give theJapanese a most significant role to play if this dangerous chasm is ever to be closed. Their ability to develop the skills and willing ness to play this role could prove crucial for the world's future. Though Japan is one of the few homogeneous countries left in the world, the origins of the Japanese were apparently varied.
Paleolithic tools indicate early habitation, though the routes of migration are obscure.
Two early settled cultures were the Jomon, from around 7,000 to 200 B.C., and the Yayoi, from around the third century B.C., the former named for its pottery remains. By around the fourth century A.D., migration from Kyushu to the present Nara area had created the first recorded state, the Yamato court. This first period was marked by internecine strife and the growing influence, through diplomatic and religious missions, of China and Korea. Eventually the Fujiwara family emerged as the strongest faction, and there was a firm centralization of political power in the court and the first compilation of codes of law. Here the arts flourished, particularly architecture, and here Murasaki Shikibu wrote the world's first real novel, The Tale of Genji, and Sei Shonagon compiled her essay collection called the Pillow Book.