World Mythologies found in Tolkien

[Iaurhirwen]

As many of us may or may not know Tolkien derived a lot of his basic ideas from different world mythologies, specifically the Norse and Celtic mythologies. But what about other world mythologies and religions? I am sure that we can find some examples of Tolkien in every area of the world. Just this summer while studying Japanes culture, I learned of an article of food known as kibidongo that had many of the same properties of lembas bread, you know, the ability to keep a person going even in dire circumstances.

I guess the reason I started this thread was to create a running conversation of all of the evidence of Tolkien that can be found in the multitude of mythologies of the world. Living in America, and with my school system having the classic idea of American superiority (I hate that btw), we really are not taught much about the culture and ideas of rest of the world unless we take a specific class on it. So, to use my local grammer, what do yous guys think?