I found out that there are some similiarities about this 2 group
pf people...if so why one tribe become superpower and the other did
not...some findings:
I have noticed myself quite a few similarities between Bahasa
Indonesia/Malaysia and Japanese language. Apart from the very
similar pronounciation in both languages, there is the same
hierarchical differences in personal pronouns. For example "you" is
either "anda" or "kamu" with the same meaning and wa of using as
"anata" and "kimi" in Japanese. Likewise, "suki" 好き (to like)
translates "suka" in Bahasa. Such similarities are striking. In
both languages you can make a plural by doubling the word, like
wareware in Japanese (ware = I or you, wareware = we). Doubling of
words is so common that there is a kanji that only means the word
is doubled(" 々") in written Japanese. However, it is more common in
Bahasa nowadays where it is almost systematical. Expressions like
"ittekimasu, itteirashai, tadaima and okaeri" also exist in
Indonesian (selamat jalan, selamat tinggal...), but not in European
languages. I am not a specialist of any of these languages at all.
I barely know a few words in Indonesian, but it's enough to see the
link with Japanese.
Japanese matsuri ressembles so much Balinese ones that one could
wonder if they are actually the same country. I've seen a cremation
in Bali ; they cary the dead body very much like Japanese carry a
mikoshi. Balinese funerals are joyful and people swinging the
"mikoshi" in the streets and making loud noise to scare the evil
sprits. Basically, Bali is Hindu, but has mixed it with the
original animist religion. Shinto is also an animisn, and we can
see lots of other cultural similarities between
non-muslim/non-christian Indonesia and non-buddhist Japan. For
example, the wall and entrance around traditional houses and the
style of Balinese temples and Japanese shrines. Buddhism, Islam and
Christianity all arrived much later after the supposed original
ancestors of the 2 archipelago split from each other, but have
changed radically both societies. We have to look for the purely
original culture (what might be very difficult nowadays) to find
the connection existing in late prehistoric time.
