Information about my parents, in other words, information about older Hominids, is almost nonexistent. The fossil of Kenyapithecus, from 14 million years ago, is regarded as the common ancestor of great apes and of human beings. There is a 10-million- year blank between me and Kenyapithecus, the so called "Missing Link" to human beings.
But recently, there have been epoch-making discoveries which have shed light on things. The first one is the discovery of the fossil of Hominoidea from 9 million years ago, discovered by Prof. Hidemi Ishida of Kyoto Univ. The second is the human fossil, from 4.4 million years ago, discovered by a team from California Univ. These discoveries have reduced the "Missing Link" to 4 million years.
One of the leading members of the team from California Univ. was Prof. Gen Suwa of Tokyo Univ. That means, in those two great discoveries, Japanese researchers played an active part.
             Family tree
"Well, please keep your eye on the mysterious world of paleoanthropology! See you."