Yes, it’s quite easy to tell who is Okinawan when they visit the mainland. Not trying to sound like a duce but technically, the average okinawan isn’t Japanese per se. It’s like Puerto Rico , Guam or Hawaii. People were living their before and after the land was annexed. Okinawans have their own culture and langugage(Uchinaguchi), that isn’t mutually inteligible to Japanese.
I was stationed in Yokosuka for 4yr, Okinawa for 3yrs, got out and currenty living in the Kansai region for nearly 8 yrs.
I think so. Generally speaking – tanner skin, shorter heights. We seem to have more round facial structures, too. I never really paid attention or noticed until I was an adult, though.
There are definitely traits that are more common or less common in Okinawa, but everything is on a continuum. They may have darker skin, but there are many very pale Okinawans. They may be a little shorter than mainland Japanese, but there are plenty of tall Okinawans. There are also a lot of mainland Japanese that moved to Okinawa, but aren’t Ryukyu, but their children might be half.
For me, it usually seems pretty obvious for people over, say, 60 years old – they just immediately look “Okinawan.” But for younger people, if I saw them in Tokyo, I think it would be difficult to say for certain, “oh, look, an Okinawan!”
If they have the classic Okinawan face, you can tell 100%. An example that comes to mind is the pro-golfer Ai Miyazato. But there are also plenty of Okinawans that are indistinguishable from Japanese people.
In my mind it’s sort of like how with certain people you can just tell they’re Irish but there are also plenty of Irish people that are indistinguishable from other white people.
Japan has tried to create a unifying culture through its language but Okinawa is probably the most distinct sub-culture in the country. What the Japanese culture tends to hide is that there are many different genetic groups in Japan that the culture mostly glosses over. The Jomon people came to Japan people around 13,000BC but around 1000~300BC the archeological record shows that a new people known as Yayoi came bringing a new culture.
Wikipedia says
> Direct comparisons between Jōmon and Yayoi skeletons show that the two peoples are noticeably distinguishable. The Jōmon tended to be shorter, with relatively longer forearms and lower legs, more deep-set eyes, shorter and wider faces, and much more pronounced facial topography. They also have strikingly raised brow ridges, noses, and nose bridges. Yayoi people, on the other hand, averaged 2.5–5 cm (0.98–1.97 in) taller, with shallow-set eyes, high and narrow faces, and flat brow ridges and noses. By the Kofun period, almost all skeletons excavated in Japan except those of the Ainu are of the Yayoi type with some having small Jōmon admixture, resembling those of modern-day Japanese.
Interestingly it is said that the Ainu are are genetically close to the Okinawan people:
> [The closest modern ethnic groups to the Ainu are the Ryukyuans in southern Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_people?wprov=sfti1#Autosomal_DNA), followed by contemporary Japanese people. Compared with other East Asian populations, the Ainu are forming an outgroup, pointing to long-lasting isolation after their divergence. By analyzing the SNP loci of Ainu individuals, it was found that they carry genes associated with facial structure found among Europeans and hair and tooth morphology found among East Asians.
This article gives a really comprehensive study of origins of the Ryukyuan people:
> According to the recent genetic studies, the [Ryukyuan people share more alleles with the southern Jōmon (16,000–3,000 years ago) hunter-gatherers than the yayoi people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryukyuan_people?wprov=sfti1#), who had rice farming culture, have smaller genetic contributions from Asian continental populations, which supports the dual-structure model of K. Hanihara (1991), a widely accepted theory which suggests that the Yamato Japanese are more admixed with Asian agricultural continental people (from the Korean Peninsula) than the Ainu and the Ryukyuans, with major admixture occurring in and after the Yayoi period (3,000-1,700 years ago). Within the Japanese population the Ryukyu make a separate and one of the two genome-wide clusters along the main-island Honshu. The Jōmon ancestry is estimated at approximately 28%, with a more recent study estimating it at ~36%. The admixture event which formed the admixed Ryukyuans was estimated at least 1100–1075 years ago, which corresponds to the Gusuku period, and is considered to be related to the arrival of migrants from Japan.
So yes, the people of Okinawa probably [look more Jomon than Yayoi](https://napost.com/2017/jomon-and-yayoi/) but all Japanese are a mix of these peoples and probably many more in between and every other culture who arrived in the islands from over the horizon.
Do an image search for Jomon/Yayoi face on Google. It’s a fairly hot topic in Japan.
See it yourself. I cannot tell the differences. I have been to Taiwan, the closest country island, I cannot tell the differences of Taiwanese, Chinese and Okinawan either from appearance. But the outfits are slightly different.
Typically if you live on the island you’ll be able to tell the difference
Some Japanese from mainland Japan have Jomon facial features, prominent ones include Abe Hiroshi and Shohei Ohtani.
Yes
Yea they are fatter in general, probably because of the car dependency
From my experience, native Okinawans tend to have darker skin, but this is probably due to the UV rays the islands get compared to the mainland
Not all Okinawans look different, but many do. My old manager was Okinawa and the cops asked her for her zairyu card based on her face lol.
Okinawans also tend to be more tan and often very very hairy, as well has having a higher percentage of double eyelids etc…
4th-gen Okinawan-American from Hawaii, where like 25% of the Japanese-American population has ancestors originally from Okinawa so I’ve grown up constantly reminded of the differences. Definitely, rounder facial features, thicker eyebrows and body hair, shorter, stockier build, darker skin were common among those with last names like Kaneshiro, Kinjo, Oshiro, Higa, Kanegusuku, etc.
In Japan, I often get mistaken for Chinese, Taiwanese or some other Southeast Asian.
There are all types of Okinawans, light skinned and dark skinned, oddly tall and expectedly short. Okinawans are known to be hairy but I’ve also met some hairless ones, they might be genetic anomalies though lol. Also more tendency to have double eyelids but I’ve had friends with alleged Okinawan ancestry with single eyelids.
My ma used to tell me the light skin is from the ukon (turmeric) and botanical cosmetics we’ve used culturally. I’ve noticed some Okinawans have cat like facial features too, like Miyazato Ai-chan. I don’t pay much attention to mainland Japanese but wouldn’t be surprised if there are prefectures with similar catlike faces, maybe because of the Jōmon history as someone else mentioned.
You also have to take into account Okinawan ports had a lot of foreigners from China, the Philippines, and Portugal coming through, my great granddad was prolly some European pirate cause my granddad had red hair and freckles, and my ma had brown hair and was regularly assumed to be Filipina.
Where i come from most Japanese emigrated from Okinawa and since i always been around Japanese communities back when i was a kid going to Okinawa brings me memories of my homeland. Same thing when i visit Italy.
Short answer is yes, especially if they are older. 40+
Many Okinawan people are slightly more rounded faced, darker skin toned, and larger eyes.
17 comments
Yes, it’s quite easy to tell who is Okinawan when they visit the mainland. Not trying to sound like a duce but technically, the average okinawan isn’t Japanese per se. It’s like Puerto Rico , Guam or Hawaii. People were living their before and after the land was annexed. Okinawans have their own culture and langugage(Uchinaguchi), that isn’t mutually inteligible to Japanese.
I was stationed in Yokosuka for 4yr, Okinawa for 3yrs, got out and currenty living in the Kansai region for nearly 8 yrs.
I think so. Generally speaking – tanner skin, shorter heights. We seem to have more round facial structures, too. I never really paid attention or noticed until I was an adult, though.
There are definitely traits that are more common or less common in Okinawa, but everything is on a continuum. They may have darker skin, but there are many very pale Okinawans. They may be a little shorter than mainland Japanese, but there are plenty of tall Okinawans. There are also a lot of mainland Japanese that moved to Okinawa, but aren’t Ryukyu, but their children might be half.
For me, it usually seems pretty obvious for people over, say, 60 years old – they just immediately look “Okinawan.” But for younger people, if I saw them in Tokyo, I think it would be difficult to say for certain, “oh, look, an Okinawan!”
If they have the classic Okinawan face, you can tell 100%. An example that comes to mind is the pro-golfer Ai Miyazato. But there are also plenty of Okinawans that are indistinguishable from Japanese people.
In my mind it’s sort of like how with certain people you can just tell they’re Irish but there are also plenty of Irish people that are indistinguishable from other white people.
Japan has tried to create a unifying culture through its language but Okinawa is probably the most distinct sub-culture in the country. What the Japanese culture tends to hide is that there are many different genetic groups in Japan that the culture mostly glosses over. The Jomon people came to Japan people around 13,000BC but around 1000~300BC the archeological record shows that a new people known as Yayoi came bringing a new culture.
Wikipedia says
> Direct comparisons between Jōmon and Yayoi skeletons show that the two peoples are noticeably distinguishable. The Jōmon tended to be shorter, with relatively longer forearms and lower legs, more deep-set eyes, shorter and wider faces, and much more pronounced facial topography. They also have strikingly raised brow ridges, noses, and nose bridges. Yayoi people, on the other hand, averaged 2.5–5 cm (0.98–1.97 in) taller, with shallow-set eyes, high and narrow faces, and flat brow ridges and noses. By the Kofun period, almost all skeletons excavated in Japan except those of the Ainu are of the Yayoi type with some having small Jōmon admixture, resembling those of modern-day Japanese.
Interestingly it is said that the Ainu are are genetically close to the Okinawan people:
> [The closest modern ethnic groups to the Ainu are the Ryukyuans in southern Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_people?wprov=sfti1#Autosomal_DNA), followed by contemporary Japanese people. Compared with other East Asian populations, the Ainu are forming an outgroup, pointing to long-lasting isolation after their divergence. By analyzing the SNP loci of Ainu individuals, it was found that they carry genes associated with facial structure found among Europeans and hair and tooth morphology found among East Asians.
This article gives a really comprehensive study of origins of the Ryukyuan people:
> According to the recent genetic studies, the [Ryukyuan people share more alleles with the southern Jōmon (16,000–3,000 years ago) hunter-gatherers than the yayoi people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryukyuan_people?wprov=sfti1#), who had rice farming culture, have smaller genetic contributions from Asian continental populations, which supports the dual-structure model of K. Hanihara (1991), a widely accepted theory which suggests that the Yamato Japanese are more admixed with Asian agricultural continental people (from the Korean Peninsula) than the Ainu and the Ryukyuans, with major admixture occurring in and after the Yayoi period (3,000-1,700 years ago). Within the Japanese population the Ryukyu make a separate and one of the two genome-wide clusters along the main-island Honshu. The Jōmon ancestry is estimated at approximately 28%, with a more recent study estimating it at ~36%. The admixture event which formed the admixed Ryukyuans was estimated at least 1100–1075 years ago, which corresponds to the Gusuku period, and is considered to be related to the arrival of migrants from Japan.
So yes, the people of Okinawa probably [look more Jomon than Yayoi](https://napost.com/2017/jomon-and-yayoi/) but all Japanese are a mix of these peoples and probably many more in between and every other culture who arrived in the islands from over the horizon.
Do an image search for Jomon/Yayoi face on Google. It’s a fairly hot topic in Japan.
Some famous artist and actors from Okinawa are: [Yui Aragaki](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=dafc1e29cd1898fe&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ADLYWIJzYBKAxdudfCBYOSRFYVcSuWXRWQ:1714782557523&q=yui+aragaki&uds=ADvngMizSESNVjzsB-4N7LoTZOow-h5v5k3QFyyXotgRVp9__PRwEgweUfRGufJNnNXVcDOjod7X02YEzYXc_C6dZrhXmCoHv3RJpNNnS4hw4XYAdVh5yLJvnrdXBFp5KwXS9jNd415OPI3Ap4NduCZGofCJ1bAeNWin9fXYuvMjofeoUFLl7F–EaAgpGK3lHO9N3jIv7oUcnbuHe5qlh7u7rL1WUYR7E8FLsMb_WDJZmG_DJfHcXSB4Gmnr9B0W6O6R_heJ20nHAVSYTR5hVs8_Zn-da8CZoXZrLd_FuRyhj-cRnNR-eE&udm=2&prmd=ivnsmbtz&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwip7tTp3vKFAxV8lFYBHdIJCawQtKgLegQIDRAB&biw=1920&bih=961&dpr=1), [Yoshio Kojima](https://www.google.com/search?q=yoshio+kojima&sca_esv=dafc1e29cd1898fe&sca_upv=1&udm=2&biw=1920&bih=961&sxsrf=ADLYWILDA30LSlT4pfpT34khJXff6v82cA%3A1714782649684&ei=uYE1Zu6vKbHf2roP56SmuAU&ved=0ahUKEwiu8M2V3_KFAxWxr1YBHWeSCVcQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=yoshio+kojima&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiDXlvc2hpbyBrb2ppbWEyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIHEAAYgAQYGEiqE1AAWIMRcAB4AJABAJgBb6ABrwqqAQM0Ljm4AQPIAQD4AQGYAg2gAvgKwgIEECMYJ5gDAJIHBDAuMTOgB_c5&sclient=gws-wiz-serp), [Kaori Chinen](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=dafc1e29cd1898fe&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ADLYWIJR4pO9m0sMpZIrz4m8zTu8b24zkQ:1714782763951&q=%E7%9F%A5%E5%BF%B5%E3%81%8B%E3%81%8A%E3%82%8A&uds=ADvngMhDNpEni0P7O0qvPcH0EAwuXbayVM9_fPStCeERPZ1aKBSYtcVslqhJjBvgmzMFPN4gix4mAmWx_m_qs4SzFCaABjVJym6VOEc9TfZ816j-JQpkxbNWTL7GCeYluxkCJrqT1hhgdsYhHLtPe1VYWlLzRd0jBjy0T0AbL2nwZj9yJRhLY1H6kuprR1iYqgl0j1It9RD0_yUAQmZ7BL-qX-Xmr1CPTKaltp_D4J86T8WbEcNdglB-JS62WIWBaiWwkDuOu5PQQuCfJGevgRblcWMzhCAigPYuNEaJ_oqMunaimuacTyDGOnG7IqKHWN5e6vvEIdQx&udm=2&prmd=ivnsmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiRm4zM3_KFAxWKp1YBHQrxA-sQtKgLegQIDRAB&biw=1920&bih=961&dpr=1), [Yukie Nakama](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=dafc1e29cd1898fe&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ADLYWILxt_t-ZLZ11ufDPR7pnU2aS82vbw:1714782886004&q=%E4%BB%B2%E9%96%93%E7%94%B1%E7%B4%80%E6%81%B5&uds=ADvngMhDNpEni0P7O0qvPcH0EAwuRbpAuDaRkkexakGOdkWKi3uNGrYOOwbY0SWITHGa1klSkYHuz_A0QENQpzRZeTik5oH4c02aRYUD5e53Fx1pV69YsqMRgW9Vv_rSeq2cS_kNRVnyxOGsxTc3aKKImPMIwinX-fxOkihwtROh1EHTGEUHnr7f7hPNuOFsYNH5fgn6viKBOQA6lEpYr_o2Tpwbu9yu2ej5et7KBN7e0BqlWIIafVUoW6EUrgLknyCbQza_VvcIuItPKs3VpUcWlweA0MfucSJCqMhsrF71J8Eo1TrwrlIjzVVAENlE13gknCy8PKae&udm=2&prmd=ivnsmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwipzKWG4PKFAxXNrlYBHVc6Ch8QtKgLegQICxAB&biw=1920&bih=961&dpr=1), [Yu Yamada](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=dafc1e29cd1898fe&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ADLYWII_D5T5JLsPvT3hSHiI7FvPEGOTzg:1714782920406&q=%E5%B1%B1%E7%94%B0%E5%84%AA&uds=ADvngMg56oHTv53WHmtoXL0DcsuKL9fdLHBVFzWl6WQQ_9P_SLC_DxN9u-jheYcMBc2OqVTKEvi6DSJf4ndjeXnh0ZlRps0isnVyjJqbNVXReLIR3sjcz04yH-Z6BfY_D2CROkqu-Cvye0GRxIwa6I274drSwcKqcT1LH5IrHzBYAeGfgL8MgaUNia2Rkt40pvq2KcXgbZDUHsbkA1y8-c_wDnlH2CP1DKpIJmxUtAb_KIM7QE_C_Wut0IimM477R1lpNHWo9HWIMqaY5f_6suZE4JnwM8t7sDl7tZCtN5PeK9-PLObKMIDKW2ONHFBif-AfpvdwS5yT&udm=2&prmd=invsmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiFsdmW4PKFAxUWmVYBHeCuB_8QtKgLegQIDRAB&biw=1920&bih=961&dpr=1), [Kiyosaku Uezu](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=a7ed1b21a30ee360&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ADLYWIKtjtZDC4isQz-niofhhAA4ZPph0g:1714783177438&q=%E4%B8%8A%E6%B1%9F%E6%B4%8C+%E6%B8%85%E4%BD%9C&uds=ADvngMiIMiMH9LyyITANaU-tP7Txn8Xjh7PQgK-QWMxmcRecQIqeFy0RJjmnn7SiTQNZxNg2ujUN5AnI9mXamqLjZ6Tgut_5YSpfsJPBOkUqgBfvk9HK7_2GxJfrMpMIboNC_iChZOSP4eg7oO-Pu_QuvYdsYpVKBSY6p_y7qv_Iz7yZPZNDMzjrO2Rj22-ciNhkB3AaHXYf_kAxjx9D5DjSPnWnsY3_PtptX1qxR2b5PXEFaO3MVR4RxZz8MbY9-auWBGOcPwTjZohAfwmD0YgBRbBMMDBtGiZPWAWxIEuLy9YoIOtm7UZ99xCfOpporbsrMcIDHvX4&udm=2&prmd=ivnsmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiJsqGR4fKFAxWimVYBHZncCtoQtKgLegQIDRAB&biw=1920&bih=961&dpr=1). [List of famous people from Okinawa.](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B2%96%E7%B8%84%E7%9C%8C%E5%87%BA%E8%BA%AB%E3%81%AE%E4%BA%BA%E7%89%A9%E4%B8%80%E8%A6%A7)
See it yourself. I cannot tell the differences. I have been to Taiwan, the closest country island, I cannot tell the differences of Taiwanese, Chinese and Okinawan either from appearance. But the outfits are slightly different.
Typically if you live on the island you’ll be able to tell the difference
Some Japanese from mainland Japan have Jomon facial features, prominent ones include Abe Hiroshi and Shohei Ohtani.
Yes
Yea they are fatter in general, probably because of the car dependency
From my experience, native Okinawans tend to have darker skin, but this is probably due to the UV rays the islands get compared to the mainland
Not all Okinawans look different, but many do. My old manager was Okinawa and the cops asked her for her zairyu card based on her face lol.
Okinawans also tend to be more tan and often very very hairy, as well has having a higher percentage of double eyelids etc…
4th-gen Okinawan-American from Hawaii, where like 25% of the Japanese-American population has ancestors originally from Okinawa so I’ve grown up constantly reminded of the differences. Definitely, rounder facial features, thicker eyebrows and body hair, shorter, stockier build, darker skin were common among those with last names like Kaneshiro, Kinjo, Oshiro, Higa, Kanegusuku, etc.
In Japan, I often get mistaken for Chinese, Taiwanese or some other Southeast Asian.
There are all types of Okinawans, light skinned and dark skinned, oddly tall and expectedly short. Okinawans are known to be hairy but I’ve also met some hairless ones, they might be genetic anomalies though lol. Also more tendency to have double eyelids but I’ve had friends with alleged Okinawan ancestry with single eyelids.
My ma used to tell me the light skin is from the ukon (turmeric) and botanical cosmetics we’ve used culturally. I’ve noticed some Okinawans have cat like facial features too, like Miyazato Ai-chan. I don’t pay much attention to mainland Japanese but wouldn’t be surprised if there are prefectures with similar catlike faces, maybe because of the Jōmon history as someone else mentioned.
You also have to take into account Okinawan ports had a lot of foreigners from China, the Philippines, and Portugal coming through, my great granddad was prolly some European pirate cause my granddad had red hair and freckles, and my ma had brown hair and was regularly assumed to be Filipina.
Where i come from most Japanese emigrated from Okinawa and since i always been around Japanese communities back when i was a kid going to Okinawa brings me memories of my homeland. Same thing when i visit Italy.
Short answer is yes, especially if they are older. 40+
Many Okinawan people are slightly more rounded faced, darker skin toned, and larger eyes.