katchen
Banned
It WOULD take an Emperor interested in ordering his Shogun to go beyond the Tsugaru Strait to conquer Hokkaido, Shikotan, Kunashiri and Urup. THAT would be the POD. But it would not be much of a POD. Because during the Medieval Warm Period, those islands had a climate in which rice could be grown, as they do now.
The Kuril Island north of Urup are quite small until one gets to Paramushir and then the southern tip of Kamchatka, then inhabited by the Itelman. Off of Kamchatka are the Komandardki Idlands and then Attu and Kiska, the beginning of the Aleutians.
The Itelman are not friendly; the Aleut, reasonably friendly if James A. Michener is to be believed. No, Japanese fishermen would not want to broadcast the secret of their rich new fishing ground where the daimyo's tax man might hear of it. But for just that reason, some Japanese fisher folk might be inclined to stay permanently on islands where the locals are reasonably friendly, put down roots and intermarry, trading with their cousins who would go back home. Their cousins would worry about the tax. And Japanese culture would spread north and east to people who used to make things exclusively of stone, leather and bone.
Especially when the trade route finally reaches the mainland and truly valuable commodities such as walrus, narwahl and fossil mammoth tusks, sea otter pelts and deer antlers for Chinese medicine hit the market.
The Kuril Island north of Urup are quite small until one gets to Paramushir and then the southern tip of Kamchatka, then inhabited by the Itelman. Off of Kamchatka are the Komandardki Idlands and then Attu and Kiska, the beginning of the Aleutians.
The Itelman are not friendly; the Aleut, reasonably friendly if James A. Michener is to be believed. No, Japanese fishermen would not want to broadcast the secret of their rich new fishing ground where the daimyo's tax man might hear of it. But for just that reason, some Japanese fisher folk might be inclined to stay permanently on islands where the locals are reasonably friendly, put down roots and intermarry, trading with their cousins who would go back home. Their cousins would worry about the tax. And Japanese culture would spread north and east to people who used to make things exclusively of stone, leather and bone.
Especially when the trade route finally reaches the mainland and truly valuable commodities such as walrus, narwahl and fossil mammoth tusks, sea otter pelts and deer antlers for Chinese medicine hit the market.