The linguist Ann Kumar (2009) proposed that some Austronesians might have migrated to Japan, possibly an elite-group from Java, and created the Japanese-hierarchical society. She also identifies 82 possible cognates between Austronesian and Japanese, however her theory remains very controversial. The linguist Asha Pereltsvaig criticized Kumar's theory on several points. The archaeological problem with that theory is that, contrary to the claim that there was no rice farming in China and Korea in prehistoric times, excavations have indicated that rice farming has been practiced in this area since at least 5000 BC. There are also genetic problems. The pre-Yayoi Japanese lineage was not shared with Southeast Asians, but was shared with Northwest Chinese, Tibetans and Central Asians. Linguistic problems were also pointed out. Kumar did not claim that Japanese was an Austronesian language derived from proto-Javanese language, but only that it provided a superstratum language for old Japanese, based on 82 plausible Javanese-Japanese cognates, mostly related to rice farming.
The linguist Ann Kumar (2009) proposed that some Austronesians might have migrated to Japan possibly an elite-group from Java and created the Japanese-hierarchical society She also identifies 82 possible cognates between Austronesian and Japanese however her theory remains very controversial The linguist Asha Pereltsvaig criticized Kumar's theory on several points The archaeological problem with that theory is that contrary to the claim that there was no rice farming in China and Korea in prehistoric times excavations have indicated that rice farming has been practiced in this area since at least 5000 BC There are also genetic problems The pre-Yayoi Japanese lineage was not shared with Southeast Asians but was shared with Northwest Chinese Tibetans and Central Asians Linguistic problems were also pointed out Kumar did not claim that Japanese was an Austronesian language derived from proto-Javanese language but only that it provided a superstratum language for old Japanese based on 82 plausible Javanese-Japanese cognates mostly related to rice farming