On the other hand, rice-paddies did not spread in the Nansei Islands and Sakhalin/Hokkaido, therefore, the Shell mound period and then the Gusuku period followed the Jomon period in the Nansei Islands and Post Jomon period then Satsumon period followed after the Jomon period in Sakhalin/Hokkaido (Although there was an example of a rice-paddy during the early Yayoi period shown in the Tareyanagi site in Aomori Prefecture, rice-paddy cultivation also did not widely spread in Tohoku region in Honshu until the middle to the late Yayoi period and some theoretical views that Post Jomon period followed as in Hokkaido.)
一方、南西諸島と樺太・北海道には水田が作られず、南西諸島では貝塚時代、ついでグスク時代、樺太・北海道では続縄文時代、ついで擦文時代（さつもん）が続いた（また、本州東北地方では、青森県垂柳遺跡のように弥生時代前期の水田の事例もあるものの、一般的には中期後半前後まで水稲農耕は完全に受容されたとはいえず、北海道に準じ続縄文文化が展開したとの見方もある）。