Last September, a team from Doshisha University in Kyoto (Japan), lead by Kazuto Matsufuji announced the discovery of 20 stone tools in a layer of earth dated to 120,000 years BP. The tools were found at the Sunabara remains in Izumo, Shimane Prefecture. Before that find, the earliest date for stone artifacts in Japan was 90,000 years, for tools from the Kanedori excavation in Iwate Prefecture, and other sites.
     At the recent meeting in Tokyo of the Japanese Archaeological Association, the Sunabara tools were estimated to be 70,000 to 120,000 years old. This new date was assigned because a layer of volcanic ash above the artifiacts had been dated to an age of 70,000 years.

Source: The Asahi Shimbun (25 May 2010)