Around 14,000 – 300 BC, contemporary with the Neolithic (“New Stone Age”) in Europe, was a period of Japan’s pre-history called the Jomon era.
While neolithic Europeans were nomadic hunter/gatherers, the Jomon people of Japan (and probably similar peoples in Eastern Asia too) were starting to settle down and produce THE EARLIEST POTTERY KNOWN IN THE WORLD! Clay vessels found at Fukui Cave have been dated to around 14,000-8,000 BC!
The earliest "incipient Jomon age" pottery is decorated with the impressions of twisted cord (Jomon means “patterns of rope” and the pottery is called Jomon Doki).
Before the dawn of writing, this era has left no written records: only archaeological finds give an idea of the lifestyle of these prehistoric inhabitants of Japan. They seem to have settled in thatched huts. Mounds of shells are also associated with their settlements.
Luckily for the brief visitor to Japan, the vicinity of Tokyo is particularly good for Jomon sites.
So for an insight into Japan’s earliest peoples, why not visit:
MUSEUMS
Tokyo National MuseumThe Japanese Archaeology gallery has an excellent collection of Jomon ceramics from around Japan, including numerous pots and dogu (clay figurines). There isn't much to put it all in context though.
Access: Ueno Park, a short walk from the Park exit of Ueno Station.
Meiji University Archaeology Museum (Meiji Daigaku Kokogaku Hakubutsukan)
Has a beautiful display of Jomon artifacts, along with earlier Palaeolithic and later "Yayoi" objects, excavated by the university at sites throughout Japan. There is a small museum shop too.
Access: Ochanomizu Station (subway, and Chuo line) is about 200m from the university. Going up Meidai-dori from the station, the museum is in a modern complex on the right (the first building).
SITES
Yoyogi-Hachiman shrine
In the grounds of this shrine, next to Yoyogi Park in Shinjuku, a circular thatched Jomon house has been recreated to mark where people lived 4,500 years ago.
Access: go to Yoyogi-Hachiman station on the Odakyu line, or Yoyogi-koen station on the Chiyoda line. Then walk up Yamate-dori to the shrine gate.
Higashiyama Kaizuka Koen
A curious one, this: in a small children's park in Meguro City a Jomon-period house has been reconstructed on the site of an archeological excavation of a kaizuka (shell mound).
Access: walking distance from Ikejiri-Ohashi station on the Tokyu Shin-Tamagawa line, one stop from Shibuya station.