Ryukyuan people
The Ryukyuan people lived in an independent kingdom until it became a vassal of Japan's Satsuma Domain in 1609. The kingdom, however, retained a degree of autonomy until 1879 when the islands were officially annexed by Japan as Okinawa Prefecture. They are now Japan's largest minority group, with 1.3 million living in Okinawa and 300,000 living in other areas of Japan.