SAPPORO — For someone who grew up ashamed of her ethnic identity, they are powerful words.
"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.
Sakai, 25, belongs to a group of young Ainu at the forefront of a revival of ethnic pride. Rebelling against a history of institutionalized discrimination, they want greater political recognition and the rescue of a culture that has been nearly wiped out by government assimilation policies and social pressure to conform.