Roman jewellery found in ancient Japanese tomb

[Jason Thorns]

What would the latin be for quantitative debasing?

[Jim Webster]

What would the latin be for quantitative debasing?

Jim

[Duncan Head]

It would be interesting to see how many examples of Japanese manufacture have made it west

As Patrick says, not much. So how did the Japanese pay for their Chinese silk and swords, Roman glass, or Korean metalwork?

The Account of the Wa in the Jin dynastic history mentions the tribute brought to China by Yayoi Japanese embassies in the 3rd century:

"They have arrived here with your tribute, consisting of four male slaves and six female slaves, together with two bolts of twenty feet of cloth with designs."

"This delegation visited the capital and presented thirty male and female slaves. It also offered five thousand white gems and two pieces of carved jade, as well as twenty bolts of brocade with designs."

So perhaps Japan exchanged slaves, patterned textiles, and local semi-precious stones for their luxury imports? (Apparently "Japanese jade" is "really just white agate speckled with spinach-green" - http://www.bestfromjapan.com/faq/topic.cfm?topicid=93.)