I know this isn't strictly the subject at hand, but an old friend of mine is working on learning the Choctaw (Native American) language after maybe 20 years of working as a professional Japanese translator. He discovered an alarming number of cognates between words in Choctaw and words in Japanese, Okinawan, Ryukyuan, and Ainu language.

He made a video game "memory palace" to explore the similarities. Very cool experience, worth exploring if you love languages and have an interest in Native American culture.

https://tomatogame.itch.io/halito-tomato