[blam]

"The Far East (China, Japan, Korea) seem to be in a different cultural zone."

Haven't you overlooked the Jomon and Ainu groups? (...and more recently (2-4,000 years ago) the Xiongnu, Han and Hakka Chinese)

[Cronos]

The Ainu -- aren't they like nearly decimated? The dominant group in China IS the Han, but I dunno abotu the others, only that the Chinese tend to smother other groups, like the Tibetans who are NOT chinese.