Thanks. More or less what I was saying, although there are some unanswered questions.
See also:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/hokkaido/ainu2.html
And of course the Ainu Museum:
http://www.ainu-museum.or.jp/english/english.html
The "Ainu Culture" extended from about 1400 to the early 1700 s. According to one theory, the Satsumon Culture developed into the Ainu Culture through the influence of the Okhotsk Culture.
S. Malhi and D.G. Smith. 2002. "Brief Communication: Haplogroup X Confirmed in Prehistoric North America." * Am. J. of Physical Anthropology* 119: 84-86.
Abstract: Haplogroup X represents approximately 3% of all modern Native North american mitochondrial lineages. Using RFLP and hypervariable segment I (HVSI) sequence analyses, we identified a prehistoric individual radiocarbon dated to 1,340 =/- 40 years BP that is a member of haplogroup X, found near the Columbia River in Vantage, Washington.
The presence of haplogroup X in prehistoric North America, along with recent findings of haplogroup X in southern sSiberians confirms the hypothesis tha haplogroup X is a founding lineage.
....(p. 84) Derenko et al [2002. "The Presence of mitochondrial haplogroup X in Altaians from south Siberia," *Am. J. Human Genetics* 69: 237-241] reported the presence of haplogroup X in altaian populations from southern Siberia, where the other four Native American founding haplogroups are also present.
Doug
Findings by American anthropologist C. Loring Brace, University of Michigan, will surely be controversial in race conscious Japan. The eye of the predicted storm will be the Ainu, a "racially different" group of some 18,000 people now living on the northern island of Hokkaido. Pure-blooded Ainu are easy to spot: they have lighter skin, more body hair, and higher-bridged noses than most Japanese. Most Japanese tend to look down on the Ainu.
Brace has studied the skeletons of about 1,100 Japanese, Ainu, and other Asian ethnic groups and has concluded that the revered samurai of Japan are actually descendants of the Ainu, not of the Yayoi from whom most modern Japanese are descended. In fact, Brace threw more fuel on the fire with:
"Dr. Brace said this interpretation also explains why the facial features of the Japanese ruling class are so often unlike those of typical modern Japanese. The Ainu-related samurai achieved such power and prestige in medieval Japan that they intermarried with royality and nobility, passing on Jomon-Ainu blood in the upper classes, while other Japanese were primarily descended from the Yoyoi." The reactions of Japanese scientists have been muted so. One Japanese anthropologist did say to Brace," I hope you are wrong."
The Ainu and their origin have always been rather mysterious, with some people claiming that the Ainu are really Caucasian or proto-Caucasian - in other words, "white." At present, Brace's study denies this interpretation.
Hmmm. Thanks. Maybe it came across Siberia after all.