`   I am not a professional linguist, but I am half-Japanese and I am fluent in several languages, not only Japanese and English. I have noticed that Yamato words bear a striking similarity to Polynesian words and Japanese grammar is very similar to Korean.  Phonologically, Korean is difficult for me, but Maori and Hawaiian are practically identical. Maori even has the exact same 'r' sound as Japanese, which I have only heard on Pacific islands, never in Asia.  A couple of words examples that show a relationship:  {| class=``wikitable`` |- ! Hawaiian ! Maori ! Japanese |- | Haile mai/come to me | Haire mai/come to me | Haire/Get inside; Mairu/come |- | Wahine, -hine -female | wahine/woman | Hina/girl -hime/princess |- | Kane/man | Tane, ta/man | ka/man |}                           Another, what I think is a significant thread, is the preference for the vowel over the consonant.  In Indo-European languages, the consonant is conserved over the vowel.  Thus, Proto-IE is often written as strings of vowel-less consonants, e.g., 'ptr' for 'father.'  In Pacific languages, where the vowel is more important, this would be absurd.  In my family we often say 'shito' instead of 'hito' and 'shitenno' instead of 'shiteiruno' and are never misunderstood.  So it doesn't surprise me that in Maori, 'wh' can represent an 'f' or 'h' sound.  Furthermore, speakers of European languages think it's strange that in Japanese - and in Polynesian languages - you can change the meaning of a word by elongating a vowel. More importantly is the fact that in Polynesian languages and Japanese, a syllable always ends with a vowel.  I don't know of any other language group where this is true, including Altaic languages.  There are a lot of other cultural similarities that put Japan squarely in the Pacific Rim too, such as eating raw fish, clothing, music based on drumbeats (the koto is a Chinese instrument but taiko are distinctly Japanese), social structure, and wearing tattoos, which later was discouraged, again because of Chinese influence, but never died off completely.  I believe that cultural prejudices have prevented people from seeing these obvious characteristics. It's always the lower classes and ethnic groups that preserve heritage, but are also repugned by the elites who do the studies. The upper classes seek foreign influences and set themselves apart by means of their acquired exoticisms. Regardless, the evidence remains.  It is my adamant belief that Japanese is a patois of Korean grammar and Proto-Polynesian vocabulary upon which Chinese has been superimposed.  Steve`