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After digging into Japanese history around the time of 0 A.D, I've found out a few things that could make implementing Japan in "Rise of the East" an interesting challenge. I would be very enthusiastic about doing some more research if adding Japan is something that seems doable in the future, but here is what I know so far: The period of about 300 B.C. to about 300 A.D. in Japan is known as the Yayoi period. Little is known about the time period since the earliest mention of Japan during the period comes as an afterthought in Chinese texts. The Chinese described it as a mainly agricultural society characterized by violent struggles. The land was split into hundreds of tribal communities according to the Chinese, which is most likely more accurate than the records of the Nihon Shoki, an early collection of Japanese history that claims the birth of a unified Japan to be 660 B.C. According to archeological findings, the Japanese people during the Yayoi period experienced a great deal of turmoil and violent expansion. The people themselves are (although this is debated) thought to be from the island of Kyushu, and they arrived and expanded their influence onto the main island of Honshu in the beginning of the Yayoi period. Bronze weapons and rice farming during the period suggest heavy influences from China. Between the Jomon period (13,000-400 B.C.) and the Yayoi period, Japan's population is thought to have risen by about 4 million people. The main reasons for this are debated, but historians believe that a major influx of farmers from the Asian continent overwhelmed or absorbed the native hunter-gatherer population. The reason I said implementing Japan could be a challenge is this. During at least the first half of the Yayoi period (300 B.C - 0 A.D), Japan was split into many competing (most likely warring) villages. Many excavated settlements were moated or built at the tops of hills. Headless human skeletons discovered in Yoshinogari site are regarded as typical examples of finds from the period. In the coastal area of the Inland Sea, stone arrowheads are often found among funerary objects. In essence, no unified Japan existed (outside of the Nihon Shoki). A dramatic shift occured however as the Yamato court rose in Japan around 250 A.D. With the rise of the court, power was shifted to a central administration and an imperial court (inspired by the Chinese government of the time). Huge changes in burial styles and military tactics also occured between the Yayoi and Kofun (250-538 A.D) periods that were likely to have been developed (undocumented, as essentially everything in Japan was) during the latter half of the Yayoi period. That's what I've discovered so far. I don't know if any of it helps, but let me know what other information would be helpful in exploring this amazing civilization! Some Sources I've found helpful: http://www.jref.com/articles/yayoi-period.188/ http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/yayo/hd_yayo.htm