[Tainan]

Appropo to nothing at all, the drinking yogurt my wife buys is made by a Japanese company named Yakult.

These mysterious connections just seem to leap right out at one.

[muawiyah]

"Yak" means a bunch of things in Uralic-Altaic languages ~ and Japanese has a strong Uralic-Altaic base. In short, it's literally a Turkic language with Austranesian terms strewn here and there, and the preservation of a handful of words from the days when the Emeshi (folks with molars with 5 roots) ruled the islands.

A Yak is an important animal in Northeast Asia. it is among those herded by the Yakuts ~ who also herd horses, reindeer, goats, sheep and COWS ~ being the only Turkic speaking group in East Asia to herd cows at all. It is believed they picked up that custom during a sojourn in India.

Turks invented yoghurt of course.

[muawiyah]

If you want to know more about the Yakuts or Sakha, there are several entertaining videos. One I like is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy8bJW9zGTA Pay close attention to the blond haired Japanese looking lady who is speaking Russian (dubbed in English). Watch her walk out into -50 F weather in light clothes and a fur muff ~ she’s got Sa’ami in her background too.