AINU: Indigenous Peoples in Japan This video introduces the Ainu people, explaining the history of invasion, dispossession of their lands, assimilation (banning of Ainu culture and language) and discrimination they have experienced. It also focuses on activities to conserve Ainu culture and language, including the building of a national Ainu museum but, although it mentions the passing of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights Of Indigenous peoples, it doesn't say much about the rights of Ainu as the Indigenous people of Japan. United Nations, 25 Jul, 2017
Japan's Ainu This video documentary looks at, "Japan's indigenous people and their fight for cultural survival and acceptance. It looks at the situation of Ainu people in Tokyo as well as Hokkaido, and also at activities to create new forms of Ainu culture not just the preservation of traditional culture. It also discusses the need for Japanese people to know more about Ainu people, their history and the issues they face, and the issue of an apology from the government for the treatment of Ainu people. Aljazeera, 4 Feb 2010.
Japan's forgotten indigenous people This is an overview of the history and current situation of Ainu people, looking at the discrimination they have faced after the colonisation of Hokkaido by the Japanese, at recent recognition of the Ainu as indigenous and projects to promote and share Ainu culture in Hokkaido but also at criticism that recent laws and government policies still do not recognise Ainu rights. It includes the story and views of Kimiko Naraki an Ainu elder, as well as several professors. BBC Travel, 20 May 2020.
Ainu Revival: A feast of culture on Hokkaido menu Despite and because of their marginalization in Japanese society, Ainu people have been steadily acquiring the self-confidence to express themselves in an increasing variety of fields. Ainu politicians, writers, musicians, artists, actors and designers -- such as Shigeru Kayano, Oki Kano, Takashi Ukaji and Tamami Kaizawa among others -- are signs of the renaissance under way. Japan Times, June 27, 2004.
Going Native: Tokyo’s thriving Ainu community keeps traditional culture alive Part 1 explains the history of Ainu people as well as the story of Mina Sakai, a young Ainu woman from Hokkaido who at first felt shame about her Ainu identity. The article explains how she came to have pride in being Ainu and to set up the group Ainu Rebels to promote Ainu culture. Metropolis, 26 Feb, 2009.
Going Native: Tokyo’s thriving Ainu community keeps traditional culture alive Part 2 explains briefly about traditional Ainu music and dance as well as looking at the Ainu artists, Ainu Rebels and Oki, who combine Ainu dance and music with rap, reggae and hip hop, and at attitudes to this new hybrid culture from amongst Ainu people. It also explains about the film Tokyo Ainu. Metropolis, 26 Feb, 2009.
Ainu stepping out of social stigma: Once invisible minority hopes new indigenous cachet ends legacy of discrimination "You are beautiful just as you are. Don't be afraid," Mina Sakai sings to a young, enthusiastic crowd in the language of the Ainu, the indigenous people of Hokkaido. This is an article about yoing Ainu taking pride in their identity through music and dance that mixes traditional Ainu culture with hip-hop and rap. It also looks at attitudes towards multiculturalism amongst young people in Japan today. Japan Times, Aug. 13, 2008.
Some in Hokkaido preserve Ainu culture But the lack of young supporters does not bode well for future efforts This article describes attempts by Ainu people in Hokkaido to preserve traditional Ainu culture. Japan Times 25 Jan 2007. (New link added 02 May 2013). (New link added 02 May 2013).
The Ainu: Beyond the Politics of Cultural Coexistence By Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Cultural Survival Quarterly, 1999. This article looks at the history of colonisation of Ainu people and critically analyses the Ainu Cultural Promotion Law of 1997.
Ainu: Spirit of a Nothern People A major exhibition from 1999 to explore the ancient origin of the Ainu, their evolving relations with the Japanese, and the 20th century Ainu cultural rebirth. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
The Ainu and Their Culture: A Critical Twenty-First Century Assessment An interview with Chisato ("Kitty") O. Dubreuil, an Ainu-Japanese art historian, who co-organised, the groundbreaking 1999 Smithsonian exhibition on Ainu culture at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, in the United States. She talks about both traditional and contemporary Ainu culture and artistic production. Asia Pacific Journal, Japan Focus, Nov 26, 2007.
Ainu-Maori Cultural Exchange project (Organized by Shimada Akemi san) – from 'Ready For' (Cloud funding service)
Kotan-pet project – Sapporo International Art Festival
Experiencing Ainu culture An official overview focusing on the distinctiveness of Ainu culture and language from the perpective of encouraging tourism, rather than looking at the history of the Ainu people and their colonisation and dispossession by the Japanese state. Japan National Tourism Organisation.
TOKYO Ainu Documentary Film "features the Ainu, an indigenous people of Japan, living in Greater Tokyo (Tokyo and its surrounding areas), who are and actively in promoting their traditional culture in a metropolitan environment away from their traditional homeland, Hokkaido. Shedding a common assumption that all Ainu live in Hokkaido, the film captures the feelings, thoughts and aspirations of Ainu people that who try to follow the Ainu way no matter where they live."
Going Native: Tokyo’s thriving Ainu community keeps traditional culture alive Part 1 explains the history of Ainu people as well as the story of Mina Sakai, a young Ainu woman from Hokkaido who at first felt shame about her Ainu identity. The article explains how she came to have pride in being Ainu and to set up the group Ainu Rebels to promote Ainu culture. Metropolis, 26 Feb, 2009.
Going Native: Tokyo’s thriving Ainu community keeps traditional culture alive Part 2 explains briefly about traditional Ainu music and dance as well as looking at the Ainu artists, Ainu Rebels and Oki, who combine Ainu dance and music with rap, reggae and hip hop, and at attitudes to this new hybrid culture from amongst Ainu people. It also explains about the film Tokyo Ainu. Metropolis, 26 Feb, 2009.
Charanke Matsuri: "The festival ties the earth to the heavens. The dance connects people to the universe". The Charanke Festival is a major event bringing together the Ainu and Okinawan communities in Tokyo. It all started more than 20 years ago from a connection between an Ainu and Okinawan feeling a sense of kinship, and developed into the event it is today. More info here.
千葉県君津市 カムイミンタラ 2005年7月末、千葉県君津市、森に囲まれた亀山湖近くの南斜面に、この施設はオープンしました。
The Ainu Rebels were a group pf young Ainu peoplwe who cmbined Ainu dance and music with reggae, hip hop and rap to promote Ainu culture and experss their priede in their Ainu identity to non Ainu people .
Ainu ‘rebels’ mix it up to get message across "Mina Sakai wanted to improve the status of her people and their self-esteem in a way that would also entertain ordinary people...She performs traditional Ainu dances and music mixed with rock and hip-hop." Japan Times, 22 Nov, 2007.
Ainu Rebels Facebook Page The Ainu Rebels have stopped preforming but this page still has discussions about Ainu musical performances and other events.
Going Native: Tokyo’s thriving Ainu community keeps traditional culture alive Part 1 explains the history of Ainu people as well as the story of Mina Sakai, a young Ainu woman from Hokkaido who at first felt shame about her Ainu identity. The article explains how she came to have pride in being Ainu and to set up the group Ainu Rebels to promote Ainu culture. Metropolis, 26 Feb, 2009.
Going Native: Tokyo’s thriving Ainu community keeps traditional culture alive Part 2 explains briefly about traditional Ainu music and dance as well as looking at the Ainu artists, Ainu Rebels and Oki, who combine Ainu dance and music with rap, reggae and hip hop, and at attitudes to this new hybrid culture from amongst Ainu people. It also explains about the film Tokyo Ainu. Metropolis, 26 Feb, 2009.
Ainu musician Oki brings the world to Hokkaido An interview with Oki, a musician with a Japanese mother and an Ainu father, whose band, the Oki Dub Ainu Band, mix Ainu music with reggae, dub and other world musics. Japan Times, Aug. 28, 2008.
Oki "When I realised the origin of my blood, I knew this blood was going to be burning" says Oki, "but first I had to find out how to make it burn". With the release of his second album, "Hankapuy", it's clear that Oki, a musician of mixed Japanese and Ainu (indigenous Japanese) blood has come a long way on his own personal journey and in the process has created a startling album. Far Side Music.
Oki is an Ainu Japanese musician. Wikipedia.
Oki Official Website Website for Oki, a musician with a Japanese mother and Ainu father and his Oki Dub Ainu Band that plays music that fuses Reggae, African music and Electronica with Ainu folk melodies.
Law enacted to recognise ethnic Ainu minority as indigenous people "The law requires the central and local governments to promote Ainu culture and industry, including tourism, in order to correct long-standing socioeconomic disparities faced by the group. But some Ainu have criticized the legislation, saying it will not do enough to reverse historical discrimination." Kyodo News, 19 Apr 2019.
ウポポイ（民族共生象徴空間） The website of Upopoy, the National Ainu Museum and Park
UPOPOY National Ainu Museum and Park Official website and National Ainu Museum and Park ”UPOPOY”, JNTO (Japan National Tourism Organisation). These are two official views that emphasize learning about Ainu culture.
Upopoy – A gate to self-identification and living in coexistence Includes the views of two University of Hokkaido professors involved in setting up Upopoy, University of Hokkaido
Aiming at Olympic boom, Japan builds 'Ethnic Harmony' tribute to indigenous Ainu, This article includes views from Ainu people that Upopoy may just become a theme park and not recognise the discrimination Ainu people experienced historically. It also discusses the issue of an apology to Ainu people from the Japanese government for the discrimination they have suffered. Reuters, 19 0ct 2019.
Japan’s Indigenous Ainu community don’t want a theme park – they want their rights This article explains Ainu criticisms of the new Ainu Law for ignoring Ainu rights, problems with the return of Ainu remains (the bones of the dead) and for making the Ainu into a tourist attraction to attract people and money to Hokkaido by creating Upopoy. It describes, in paragraphs 3 & 4, Ainu leaders and Ainu Associations that are critical of government policies in various ways, as well as explaining in paragraph 8 that the Ainu Association of Hokkaido has participated in government policy-making processes but that 80% of Ainu do not feel represented by it. Equal Times, 10 December 2020.
Law for the Promotion of the Ainu Culture and for the Dissemination and Advocacy for the Traditions of the Ainu and the Ainu Culture Law No. 52, May 14, 1997. The Foundation for Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture.
The Foundation for Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture (FRPAC) Set up by the Ainu Cultural Promotion Law of 1997 and founded by the Hokkaido government and the Japanese Ministry of Education. The basic idea of our Foundation is to contribute to the realization of a society in which the ethnic pride of the Ainu is respected and to further the development of diverse national cultures through the preservation and promotion of the Ainu language and traditional culture and to disseminate knowledge on Ainu traditions to the nation. Projects include the promotion of Ainu language and culture.
Ainu People Today - 7 Years after the Culture Promotion Law By Yoichi Tanaka. The Ainu people are still struggling for the full recognition and acceptance by the Japanese society of their culture and language, and for the recognition in law of their rights as an indigenous people. An article from 2004, before the Japanese government recogmised the Ainu as an indigenous people in 2008.
The Ainu: Beyond the Politics of Cultural Coexistence By Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Cultural Survival Quarterly, 1999. This article looks at the history of colonisation of Ainu people and critically analyses the Ainu Cultural Promotion Law of 1997.
The Ainu Association of Hokkaido The Ainu Association of Hokkaido is an organization made up of Ainu who live in Hokkaido, which aims to "work to improve the social status of Ainu people and to develop, transmit and preserve Ainu culture in order to establish the dignity of the Ainu people".
Hawehe –Ainu Voices Hawehe (lit. “voices, sounds” in the Ainu language) is a free media project, in the shape of a blog, that aims at introducing to non Japanese or Ainu speakers the many issues related to the Ainu minority. If you have any suggestion or comment, please do not hesitate to email us at hawehe.av AT gmail.com.
Akan Kotan Ainu Village This is the largest Ainu community in Hokkaido with 130 in 36 households. The village has Ainu folk art stores and restaurants, and at the Onne Chise at the center of the village, visitors can watch ancient Ainu dance and listen to performances of the traditional Ainu music.
Ainu: Spirit of a Nothern People A major exhibition from 1999 to explore the ancient origin of the Ainu, their evolving relations with the Japanese, and the 20th century Ainu cultural rebirth. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
Yukar of Ainu People Information about the tradition of Ainu epic oral poetry from the UNESCO Asia Pacific Cultural Centre.