r okinawans ne different from other japanese ppl?
ethnically? culturally?
was okinawa once a diff country?

They're not considered japanese. Ethnically there's alot of mix because of the U.S. soldiers. Culturally it's different, there's too much to discribe. Okinawa use to be own by the U.S. up until untill 72 when the U.S. gave it back.

they're not japanese?!
i dont get understand.......
but before the occupation of the US were they ne different from the japanese even then?
do they look different?

I read somewhere that they look quite different, more like Filipino, but actually I've never seen an Okinawan before so I can't tell whether it's true.

they were once the ryukyu kingdom.

some japanese dont consider them true japanese, but they do look alike.

There are islanders that are 1000 miles from Japan. Not the same people but have been japanisized.

Once an independant kingdom which was culturally distinct from Chinese and Japanese people but also heavily influenced by both cultures and after was annexed by Japan.

Okinawans even though have been Japanised are traditionally looked down upon by mainland Japanese.

Okinawan are Austronesian.....!
Ancient brave seafaring people that spread and inhabit the islands. From Taiwan, southern Japan, Okinawa, The Phillipines, Indonesian archipelago, as far as Madagascar, New Zealand, Tahiti and Hawaii.

The same group as native Taiwanese, Filipinos, Indonesian, Malay, Samoan, Tahitian, Maoris.

she doesnt look austronesian to me thou

^ If you did not read previous posts, it was stated that they were "Japanisized".

Meaning they intergrated with the Japanese.

Also, she does kind of resemble what would be of Aboriginal Taiwanese/Filipino/Indonesian decent.

Her appearance is quite different from what you would usually see as Japanese, therefore I can some what concur with the previous statement before yours.

o sorry
i guess she doesnt look lke the usual japanese but she also doesnt look austronesian or netihng like an indonesian/filipino/pacific islander is wat im saying

Believe me or not...., Indonesian had wide range of looks.
From caucasian looks (almost looks like Tamil, Arab, or Persian) in west, to looks like Black African-American in eastern island of Maluku and Papua.
Thanks to our geographic position as the crossroads of world, our intermarriage between ethnics, and simply as melting pot of various peoples.

We can find that kind of looks here in Indonesia.
However I must admit that she's been Japanized.
But you can still trace her beautiful tan skin.

She still retain her Austronesian heritage though...

yes yes i agree her tan is a prob like wat u say
just her features r nothing like austronesian
more japanese

Namie Amuro is actually quater Italian, but she's not far off. As for typical Okinawans I think they look like SE asians and some can look southern Chinese as well.

yah i noe but she doesnt resmeble italian at all
only 1/4 after all

so they look like SE asians like thai sort?
of the malay stock kind of look?

Some say they or a part of them came from a China. Famous okinawan japanese are Yukie Nakama and Gackt.

Gackt is too caucasian

man shes half italian

1/4
n gackt isnt okinawan is he?

No, he´s not.
He´s fullblood Japanes, though he likes to introduce himself as East-Asian. He´s fond of Japanese culture, but he would like to see Korea, China and Japan, etc. unite.
He looks like a bishounen to me, well, those male characters of Final Fantasy, Squall, Cloud, Tidus, have been designed after him.
He follows his own style and he changes his hair very often. He´s a master in calligraphy and likes to put authentic japanese stuff in his concerts. He never uses random English in his music or hardly any at all. Loves the beauty of kanji and Japanese language. Tries hard to learn Korean and Mandarin Chinese. Is going to hold a concert in Korea, where he has a growing fanbase, in 2006. Would like to release an album in mandarin, he already did that in korea, but you know, the problems of piracy, damnnnnn youuuu, assholes, I´d like to hear GACKT SING IN MANDARIN. oh, wait, he already did a few times.
He did a duet with the famous chinese singer LEEHOM WANG with one of his own song. Great vocals of the two. I know Gackt has visited him this year with his friends, and there were pictures of him in Taipei.
I used to say he looked like a f@g, he does still, actually, but now I´ve come appreciate it and see the beauty of it, and his attitude is masculine, and damn his voice is so suitable for a hot, badass-villain, think Sephiroth, so deep. But he´s a musical genius. His 8th album has just been released this week, and it is sooooo goooooooood. it´s called DIABOLOS. His tour is going to start this week. and I´m sure it will be even better than his latest, which was the best I´ve ever seen.

I knew that

he's abusing plastic surgery is what I mean...Japan's jacko

I don´t think so. He´s just ranked first, second or third on some popular japanese web several lists of hot/sexy/mysterious/intellectual feel lists.
He looks nowhere deformed.

check this site out

http://www.livejournal.com/users/sweiled/

Japanese girl group Speed are from Okinawa.

http://www.asiafinest.com/japanese/speed.htm

i think this one is the only one that looks austronesian thou

Hitoe Arakaki (far right) looks like my friend, but she's Vietnamese.

Okinawans don't exactly look like people of the Malay stock to me...they're darker than the mainland Japanese true however their appearance is still differerent to those other Austronesians. I guess there was some mixing with the mainland Japanese since they seem to possess some Japanese features minus the skin tone.

my friend is okinawan but she eventually moved to osaka. i thought she looked japanese.

Maybe they are Malay stock and Japanese mixed.

they come from the same ancestry as japanese. the ryukyu languages and japanese are almost the same.

they are people from the japanese mainland and moved south and settled on okinawa and other ryukyu chain islands developing their own distinct culture. their physical characteristics are undistinguishable with other japanese in the four main islands.

edit posted twice.

^A lot of modern day Okinawans are mixed with Japanese from mainlands, but originally they were more like SE asians.

the original settlers were most likely indigenous people of austronesian stock, like in japan, until the mass migration of the yayoi via the korean peninsula into kyushu. from kyushu, spreading throughout the rest of the main japanese islands and taking out and mixing with indigenous ainu in the northern islands and austronesians in the south.

The migration from mainlnd only happened more recently, which I don't think had too much of influence on the current population.

I don´t find them looking malaysian. they either look like normal japanese, korean or chinese.

which brings me 2 my question once agn........
wat r they?

theyre japanese, period.

well i dont see why people say theyre not japanese due to mixing. the indigenous people of japan as seen as the ainu people which is now more commonly found in hokkaido were seen to have mixed with the migrants to japan. ainu tend to look more caucasian than their japanese counterparts. as with this, i do not see why mixing would not condone them as japanese......

well well well

ainus are austroloid

He actually lowered his real nose but enlarged his eyes, it seems (and maybe enlarged his chin and narrowed his cheel bones):

..Gackt and Hamasaki Ayumi should marry.

[/quote]
well well well

ainus are austroloid

[/quote]

theyre mongoloid.

[quote=CJK,Sep 23 2005, 03:34 PM]
[/quote]
well well well

ainus are austroloid

[/quote]

theyre mongoloid.

[/quote]
eh i dont know if i would consider them mongloid. ainus have a more caucasian look than their japanese counterparts. i must research this...

^I read that anthropologists used to categorize them as having Caucasoid ancestry, but now they say that they are "Austroloid".

one of the famous band form japan, ORANGe RangE are Okinawans but they face looks Japanese thou...
But generally Okinawans`s skin a bit darker n their Japanese lang. are different from mainland. difficult to understand.

here`s the pic of Orange RangE

^Yeah, like they say "kaze" as "kaji"...

How far back was Okinawa/Ryukyuu apart of China?

^It was never part of China, but it was a tributary kingdom during the Ming dynasty. That's why you'll find a lot of Chinese influence in Okinawan culture.

What exactly is a tributary kingdom?

:genius:

http://www.uchinanchu.org/uchinanchu/history_early.htm