From Wikipedia

Lost Civilizations - Japan

The written history of Japan begins with brief information of Twenty-Four Histories, a collection of Chinese historical texts, in the 1st century AD. However, there is evidence that suggest people were living on the islands of Japan since the upper paleolithic period. Following the last ice-age, around 12,000 BC, the rich ecosystem of the Japanese Archipelago fostered human development. The earliest-known pottery belongs to the Jōmon period.

The Kofun period is an era in the history of Japan from around 250 to 538. The word kofun is Japanese for the type of burial mounds dating from this era. The Kofun period follows the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes referred to collectively as the Yamato period. as the chronology of the historical sources are very much distorted, studies of this age require deliberate criticism and the aid of archaeology.

Generally, the Kofun period is divided from the Asuka period for its cultural differences. The Kofun period is illustrated by an shinto culture which existed prior to the introduction of Buddhism. Politically, The leader of the powerful clan, which won control over much of Honshū and the northern half of Kyūshū and eventually established Imperial House of Japan. Also, the Kofun period is the oldest era of recorded history in Japan.