Nibutani, Hokkaido: Travel, hospitality and the Ainu identity
Ainu are the indigenous people of Hokkaido, the Kuril Islands and much of Sakhalin. However, their culture in Hokkaido, dating back to the 13th century, was decimated after Japanese settlers began flocking to the huge northern island in the 1800s.
Ainu: indigenous in every way but not by official fiat
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples last Sept. 13, with Japan among the 144 member states voting in favor. The U.N. estimates there are more than 370 million indigenous people in some 70 countries. To this day, however, ...
Ainu culture in Hokkaido's Akan National Park
When Japan's Meiji Era (1868-1912) government concluded that the country had a manifest destiny to commence full-scale colonization of the hitherto barely developed northern island of Hokkaido, it set about the task assiduously. Much as with the American frontier, people from other parts of the ...
