An independent television producer and an Ainu-language teacher recently released a compact disc featuring traditional Ainu stories in a bid to pass down the indigenous minority's language.

Tatsumine Katayama, 60, a documentary producer based in Tokyo, published two books in 1999 and 2001 that feature traditional Ainu teachings based on the childhood memories of 74-year-old Mutsuko Nakamoto.

The books are titled "Upaskuma," which in Ainu means "traditional wisdom handed down by ancestors."