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"The Ainu people are historically residents of parts of Hokkaido (the Northern island of Japan) the Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin. According to the (Japanese) government, there are currently 25,000 Ainu living in Japan, but other sources claim there are up to 200,000. The origin of the Ainu people and language is, for the most part, unknown.

Physically, the Ainu stand out distinctly from the Japanese as a separate ethnic group. Ainu people tend to have light skin, a stout frame, deep-set eyes with a European shape, and thick, wavy hair. Full-blooded Ainu may have even had blue eyes or brown hair. In the past, the Ainu were proposed to be of Caucasian decent, given their appearance, but recently it has been proved through dental morphology and fingerprinting that the Ainu are in fact Mongoloid, not Caucasoid.

These days, the concept of a pure Ainu is very blurred. Distinguishing the Ainu from other Japanese is almost impossible due to intermarriage with the Japanese, migration, and denial of the Ainu identity to avoid discrimination."

From: https://www.tofugu.com/japan/ainu-japan/

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Group of Ainu men in traditional clothing

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Ainu in what is now modern Japan

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If you are interested, this site gives plenty of data on the genetic origin of the Ainu.

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According to genetic tests, the Ainu people belong mainly to Y-DNA haplogroup D2 (a haplogroup that is found uniquely in and frequently throughout Japan including Okinawa with its closest relations being Tibetans and Andaman Islanders in the Indian Ocean). On the paternal side, the vast majority (87.5%) of the Ainu were, according to a 2004 study to be of Asian-specific YAP+ lineages (Y-haplogroups D-M55* and D-M125), that were only distributed in the Japanese Archipelago. The Ainu exhibited no other Y-haplogroups (i.e. none of the common East Asian C-M8, O-M175*, and O-M122* haplogroups) and shared no other Y-DNA in common in mainland Japanese and Okinawans.

According to a study led by Hammer, one of the most useful and widely studied Y-linked polymorphisms is known as the "Y Alu polymorphic" (YAP) element (Hammer 1994). This polymorphism has resulted from the single and stable insertion of a member of the repetitive Alu family at a specific site (locus DYS287) on the long arm of the human Y chromosome during the past 29,000-334,000 years.

The frequency of Y chromosomes carrying the YAP element (YAP+) varies greatly among human populations from different geographic locations: Global surveys have shown that sub-Saharan African populations have the highest overall frequency of YAP chromosomes, followed by populations from northern Africa, Asia, Europe, the New World, and Oceania. However, an intriguing finding by Hammer (1997) that the ancestral YAP haplotype is the Asian haplotype 3 from which other haplotypes 4 and 5 evolved and derived, suggesting the possibility that YAP haplotype 3 originated in Asia and migrated to Africa. This hypothesis is supported by the finding of high frequencies of haplotype 3 in some Asian populations (i.e., -50% in Tibet) and by the observation of higher levels of diversity (based on the number and frequency of alleles at the DYS1 9 microsatellite locus) associated with Asian versus African haplotype 3 chromosomes. Chandrasekhar et al. 2007, have also argued for the Asian origin of the YAP+ on the basis of evidence from the presence of the YAP insertion in Northeast Indian tribes and Andaman Islanders with haplogroup D that suggests that some of the M168 chromosomes gave rise to the YAP insertion and M174 mutation in South Asia. Others such as Underhill and Bravi stand by an African origin for YAP+. The prevalence of the YAP+ allele in central Asian populations was alternatively suggested by some (Altheide and Hammer 1997; Jin and Su 2000; Karafet et al. 2001) to point to a genetic contribution to the east Asian populations from the northwest, probably from central Asia.

In Japan, the frequency of the YAP element ranges from 33% in Shizuoka to 56% in Okinawa, with an intermediate frequency of 39% in Aomori. The frequency is significantly higher in Okinawa than in Shizuoka (Fisher's exact test, P = .0284), but the Okinawa frequency is not significantly different from the Aomori frequency (P= .2196). However, the frequency in Okinawa is significantly higher than in the combination of the two Honshu prefectures (P = .0256). 87.5% of the Ainu were, according to a 2004 study to be of Asian-specific YAP+ lineages. By contrast, YAP was absent from Korean male samples. This result is consistent with previous surveys that showed the YAP element to be polymorphic in Japan but absent in other Asian and Oceanic populations. In terms of antiquity as well as the relationship of the different YAP+ lineages, another interesting conclusion was made by the Hammer analysis: "All pairwise F., values were calculated on the basis of YAP allele frequencies in Japan and Taiwan, as well as in 13 other populations (Hammer 1994; Spurdle et al. 1994b). The neighbor-joining method was used to generate a clustering diagram ( fig. 2). All Asian and Oceanic populations, except the Japanese, form a single group that is closely allied with the European populations. The greatest genetic distance is the one that separates these Eurasian populations from the Japanese and African populations. The Okinawan and Honshu populations are separated; the former population clusters in the middle of the African groups, and the latter population clusters between the African and Eurasian samples."

In other tests of two out of a sample of sixteen - i.e. 12.5% of Ainu men were found to belong to Haplogroup C3, which is the most common Y-chromosome haplogroup among the indigenous populations of the Russian Far East and Mongolia. A separate test (a sample of four Ainu men) found that one in four Ainu men belonged to haplogroup C3.

The presence of the C3 haplogroup is believed to reflect the genetic influence of the nomadic Nivkhs people of northern Sakhalin Island, with whom the Ainu have long-standing cultural interactions.

Genetic testing showed a varied picture of the maternal lines, with the presence of mitochondrial DNA - haplogroup Y (21.6%), haplogroup M7a (and M7a1) (15.7%), haplogroup D - especially D4, and haplogroup G.

MtDNA haplogroup Y shows likely the genetic influence from the Nivkhs, (although it is also present in the Tungusic peoples, Koreans, Mongols (including Kalmyks and Buryats), Tajiks, Chinese and other Central Asians, South Siberian Turkic peoples (e.g. Tuvans, Todjins, Soyots). The presence of Y1 lineages (Y is restricted to Northeast Asians and Ainu) among the Ainu also points to the migration route, from Siberian populations to the northernmost populations of the Japanese islands (fitting well with the archaeological record) but poses separate events from the settlement by M7a and M7b peoples.

M7 has been detected so far in China, Vietnam, the West Siberian Mansi, Mongols and island Southeast Asia, apart from from the Korean peninsula and Japanese islands where the subclades expanded. Haplogroup M7a has been found in Southeast Asia-Taiwan, but mainly among Japanese and Ryukyuans. Haplogroup M7 is seen as characteristically distributed in East Asia while M7a is regarded as its daughter group specific for (pre-Jomon to Jomon) Japanese populations (while M7b2 is specific for Korean populations). The 2002 study puts the estimated settlement times for M7a, M7b and M7c at between 6,000 and 18,000 years ... although it suggests that the M7a and M7b pioneer settlers may have entered even earlier ~ 30,000 years at a time when the Yellow Sea had fallen dry and was more like a large lake , but that the populations became bottle-necked toward the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Beyond the ancestral M7, it has been noted that M7 nested subclades are not shuffled between the Koreans and Japanese, so the M7a, M7b and M7c starlike clades are thought to represent the post LGM resettlement process, with M7a in the area of the southern Japanese Sea. This settlement event would have been contemporary with the spread of microblades, e.g. of the Suyanggae-type and before the onset of the Jomon culture.

Haplogroup G has been found most frequently among indigenous populations of easternmost Siberia, but it is also common in the Altai-Sayan region of southern Siberia, and Central Asia. According to a 2002 study, D and G stem from a common source or node, but G1 is restricted to Northeast Siberia while G2a is highest among Central Asians (8.8%) and occurs at above 3% in Tibetans and Ainu.

Haplogroup D is found frequently throughout East Asia, most frequently in Northeast Asia, Siberia and Central Asia. See Derenko below:

A 2010 Russian Derenko study clarified that D4 has an age of 24-28 kya and is further subdivided into fifteen principal subclades (D4a-D4j, D4k'o'p', D4l-D4n, D4q), which range from ~6 to ~28 kya. These D4 subclades have a very distinctive geographic distribution, which is highly informative about the demographic history of the northern Asia. The study showed that all the subclades are found in eastern Asia and that they had already expanded before the LGM, with their oldest lineages being present in the eastern Asia. In particular, most of the eastern Asian subclades of haplogroup D show coalescence ages of between 15 and 42 kya, thus suggesting that some of them were already present here before the LGM.
Relationship to other populations
While Y-chromosome haplogroup markers D2 and mtDNA D4 and M7a (and M7a1) indicate that Ainu are related to other Japanese populations in the rest of Japan, the various mtDNA studies may indicate that Ainu men took wives from a variety of locations throughout Central Asia, Siberia and the Russian Far East.

It has also been noted that the Ainu of today are not pure descendants of the Jomon, but rather from the Jomon-Yayoi mixture of the Satsumon/Emishi people. The Emishi were Jomon descendants with Yayoi assimilated cultural traits. It is believed from place names in Tohoku that the Emishi spoke the Ainu language as well. As the Yayoi people pushed north, it is thought that the Emishi people advanced on Hokkaido, infusing the Jomon culture in Hokkaido with an agrarian society and with metal-using traits from the Yayoi culture. Citing Gary Crawford, Paula Nielsen writes in " Origins of the Ainu People of Northern Japan " that "the Satsumon culture recently discovered in Hokkaido was descended from the Tohoku Emishi of northeastern Honshu who migrated to Hokkaido, bringing a fused culture of the Middle Yayoi, along with the ancient physical traits of the Jomon".

Of note, is that although the Ainu of Japan have traditionally considered descendents of the Jomon or post-Jomon Satsumon people (indicated by the D or D2 gene marker), they have been found to carry the Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup C3 showing a paternal lineage from North Asia including Sakhalin, while mitochondrial DNA gene marker (Y-haplogroup C-M217*) shows similar maternal inputs - they are gene characteristics also shared by the Nivkhi in northern Sakhalin, and Koryaks in the Kamchatka Peninsula. Hence, the Ainu can be said to be related to the Nivkhi and the Koryaks. However, since the Nivkhi do not carry haplogroup D which has a dominant presence in the Ainu, the migration is seen to have occurred unidirectionally, from the North into Hokkaido. This appears to be confirmed by the research of the Saitou laboratory at the National Institute of Genetics, which concluded that the Ainu of Hokkaido (as well as ancient Jomon) showed the closest genetic affinity to native Okinawans.

Based on non-metric cranial traits studies, the Ainu people occupy an intermediate position between Jomon and Northeast Asians (the Okhotsk) on the one hand, and between and to a lesser extent the recent Hokkaido Ainu.

The Ainu are also considered to occupy an intermediate position between Jomon and Northeast Asians on the one hand, and between Jomon and the Native Americans on the other. Thus studies on the variations among the three Ainu series from Sakhalin Island, the northeast Hokkaido coast, and central/south Hokkaido shown in the study, conclude that there has been admixture between the ancestors of recent Ainu and northern groups such as the Okhotsk people in the post-Jomon periods.

Both genetic and cranial measurement studies support the recent consensus view that the Ainu originated in the merger of the Satsumon and Okhotsk cultures around 1200 CE.

Current molecular genetic evidence suggest that the initial founders of the Americas emerged from an ancestral population of less than 5,000 individuals that evolved in isolation, likely in Beringia, from where they dispersed south after approximately 17 kya. Recent findings about the peopling of northern Asia reconstructed by archaeologists suggest that modern humans (haplogroups C and D) colonized the southern part of Siberia around 40 thousand years ago (kya, pre-LGM) and the far northern parts of Siberia and ancient Beringia, by approximately 30 kya. Haplogroup D4, the most represented of D clades, is subdivided into fifteen principal subclades (D4a-D4j, D4k'o'p', D4l-D4n, D4q), which range from ~6 to ~28 kya when using the sequence variation of the entire genome and from ~3 to ~42 kya but all subclades are found in eastern Asia, with the eastern Asian lineages the oldest among them. The expansion of haplogroup D4 settlers took place in northern Asia post LGM. Of the subclades shared with eastern Asians, D4b1a is thought to represent a separate Upper Paleolithic migration initiated northward from the Altai-Sayan region of southern Siberia around 11-20 kya . D4b1a falls into two branches, one of which, D4b1a2, is largely restricted to northern Asia and its major subclade, D4b1a2a, resulted from the earliest split from the Yukaghir mtDNA within D4b1a2.

D2 (the D4 subcluster with coalescence ages of 11.1±4.3 kya), is thought to have its most likely homeland in the Baikal region of southern Siberia, from where it expanded in the Holocene northward to northeastern Asia and further to northern America. Other remaining northern Asian-specific clusters of haplogroup D are deemed significantly younger with the age estimates not exceeding 5-8 kya.

The Paleolithic Siberian population expansions are also thought to be responsible for a migration to the Americas and that North America may have had ancestral relatives of the Jomon and Ainu among its early settlers. See Analysis of HLA genes and haplotypes in Ainu (from Hokkaido, northern Japan supports the premise that they descend from Upper Paleolithic populations of East Asia, Tissue Antigens. 2000 Feb;55(2):128-39: The Ainu people are assumed to be the descendants of pre-agricultural native populations of northern Japan, while the majority of population of present-day Japan (Hondo-Japanese) is considered to have descended mainly from post-neolithic migrants. Sequence-level polymorphisms of the HLA-class I (HLA-A and HLA-B) genes were investigated in DNA samples of 50 Ainu living in Hidaka district, Hokkaido. HLA-A*2402, A*0201, A*0206, A*2601, A*3101, B*1501, B*5101, B*3901, and B*3501 were observed at frequencies of more than 10% and most of these have previously been found in populations of not only Asians but also North and South American Indians. A*68012, which has not so far been detected in Hondo-Japanese, was found in the Ainu (3%). Correspondence and neighbor-joining analyses of various populations based on HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 gene frequencies enabled distinction between Asian, Native South American, European, and African populations. The Ainu, as well as Tlingit (Na-Dene), were placed midway between other East Asians, including Hondo Japanese, and Native South Americans (Amerindians) in the correspondence analysis. Furthermore, several HLA-A-B and HLA-B-DR-DQ haplotypes common in the Ainu, are shared with some Native American populations. These observations strongly suggest a unique place for the Ainu as descendants of some Upper Paleolithic populations of East Asia, from whom some Native Americans may have descended

The Ainu are thought to be connected to ancestry that might be in common with those of Native Americans - one connection lies in the detection of the common presence of Haplogroup X in both populations. Haplogroup X is traceable to ancient remains of Altaians in the Gobi desert, as well as to the Altai populations today, but ultimately to the Druze, Basque, and other European populations of the Caucasus. Although it is not at the moment, known how the Haplogroup X arrived in the Ainu ancestral lines, nor to Native American populations in ancient times, a 1998 study concluded that Native American founders may have had Caucasian ancestry. For more on this see DNA analyses and inferred genetic origins of the Ainu.

On the other hand, a study on the HLA gene (alleles and haplotypes) frequencies on North, Meso, South American AmeriIndians showed that AmerIndians have little relatedness with Asians, according to genealogy studies except that North-Americans only share one haplotype (A*24-B*40-DRB1*1401-DQB1*0503) with Taiwanese and Japanese in low frequencies.

The final clarification may have come from a study showing that all type 2A JC Virus strains from North and South Americans are closely related to strains in present-day Japan. The strains of JC virus present in Navajo in New Mexico (speakers of an Athapaskan language in the Na-Dene language phylum) were found to be of a prototype type 2A strain of a northeast Asian genotype found in Japan. The partial VP1 gene sequences of the JC virus from the Salish people in Montana (speakers of a language in the Salishan group in the Amerind family) and from the Guarani Indians of Argentina (speakers of the Tupi-Guarani language and Equatorial branch of the Amerind family) were however shown to be closely related to several strains variants of strains found in Japan.

***

Read more at DNA analyses and inferred genetic origins of the Ainu

To find out more about the Ainu people, watch these video presentations " Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People" by the Arctic Studies Center and " Ainu: the first peoples of Japan ", a documentary film by Rhawan Joseph, Ph. D

References:

Morphological affinities between Jomon and Ainu: reassessment based on nonmetric cranial traits": Shigematsu, Masahito; et al. Anthropological Science Vol. 112: 161-172 (2004) doi:10.1537/ase.00092.

Retr. source: Japan Science and Technology Information Aggregator, Electronic

"Origins and genetic features of the Okhotsk people, revealed by ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis". Sato, Takehiro; et al. (2007). Journal of Human Genetics 52 (7): 618-627. doi:10.1007/s10038-007-0164-z

The History and Geography of Human Genes p253, Cavalli-Sforza ISBN 0-691-08750-4

Jomon genes: using DNA, researchers probe the genetic origins of modern Japanese - Science News, Feb 15, 1997 by John Travis

Kennewick Man Skeletal Find May Revolutionalize Continent's History, Science Daily
ANTHROPOLOGY: Kennewick Man's Contemporaries, Science
The Boone Collection - Image Gallery: Ainu Artifacts. Retrieved on 2008-05-08

Genetic origins of the Ainu inferred from combined DNA analyses of maternal and paternal lineages Source: Journal of Human Genetics, Volume 49, Number 4, April 2004 , pp. 187-193(7)

" NOVA Online - Island of the Spirits - Origins of the Ainu " by Gary Crawford

" Origins of the Ainu People of Northern Japan ", Suite 101, Jan 9, 2010 by Paula I. Nielson

' Diet officially declares Ainu indigenous ', Japan Times, 7 June, 2008 Ito, M, Am J Hum Genet. 1995 April; 56(4): 951-962.

Y chromosomal DNA variation and the peopling of Japan. M F Hammer and S Horai Am J Hum Genet. 1995 April; 56(4): 951-962 PMC1801189

Evidence for a Possible Asian Origin of YAP+ Y Chromosomes. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 61:462-466, 1997, Tasha K. Altheide and Michael F. Hammer

Chandrasekar A, Saheb SY, Gangopadyaya P, et al. (2007). " YAP insertion signature in South Asia ". Ann. Hum. Biol. 34 (5): 582-6. Doi:10.1080/03014460701556262. PMID 17786594.

Underhill et al (2000). " The phylogeography of Y chromosome binary haplotypes and the origins of modern human populations ". Ann. Hum. Genet. 65 (Pt 1): 43-62.

Claudio M. Bravi et al., Tracing the origin and geographic distribution of an ancestral form of the modern human Y chromosome, Revista Chilena de Historia Natural, 74: 139-149; 2001

Ongoing Adaptive Evolution of ASPM, a Brain Size Determinant in Homo sapiens, Nitzan Mekel-Bobrov, et al., Science 9 September 2005: 309 (5741), 1720-1722. [DOI:10.1126/science.1116815]

Sjöberg, Katarina V. (1993). The Return of the Ainu: Cultural Mobilization and the Practice of Ethnicity in Japan. Studies in Anthropology and History. 9. Chur: Harwood Academic Publ.. ISBN 3718654016. OCLC 27684176.

Tajima, Atsushi; et al. (2004). "Genetic origins of the Ainu inferred from combined DNA analyses of maternal and paternal lineages". Journal of Human Genetics 49 (4): 187-193. doi:10.1007/s10038-004-0131-x.

Hammer, Michael F.; et al. (2006). "Dual origins of the Japanese: Common ground for hunter-gatherer and farmer Y chromosomes". Journal of Human Genetics 51 (1): 47-58. doi:10.1007/s10038-005-0322-0.

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The Ainu are an indigenous ethnic group of people who live in Hokkaido in Japan today as well as in Russia (the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin). In the 19th Century, Japanese people called the northern island of Hokkaido "Ezochi" which means "Land of the Ainu". The term Ainu generally referred to the fair-skinned, long-haired hunter-gatherer-fishering...

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Ainu's past discrimination and present empowerment

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Ainu's past discrimination and present empowerment

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"For nearly 100 years the Ainu people lived in Japan under a policy of extinction by assimilation. They were forbidden by the Japanese government to practice Ainu customs or even speak their own language in hopes that the Ainu would vanish from the face of the planet, but did they succeed? With so few Ainu speakers left and many Ainu denying their own heritage to avoid discrimination, you might say so, but things seem to be looking up lately for Japan's indigenous people.

The year 1994 marked a great turning point for the Ainu people, as the first ever Ainu, Shigeru Kayano, entered the Japanese diet. Shigeru dedicated his life to promoting the well-being and awareness of the Ainu people. It was thanks to him as well as other supporters that the law forbidding Ainu culture was lifted in 1997. Since then, government funding and cultural freedom has allowed the Ainu people to start regaining and preserving their precious way of life through Ainu language courses, radio stations, and public performances.

Still more recent landmarks in Ainu history include the official recognition of the Ainu as the indigenous people of Japan in 2008 and the formation of the Ainu political party in 2012. It seems that while there is still some discrimination of the Ainu people, those who rejected their heritage before are beginning to admit it openly or even embrace their identity with pride."

From: https://www.tofugu.com/japan/ainu-japan/

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If you wish to learn more about the history of the Ainu, their stuggles and their recognition, you can read this

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"The Ainu language is, much like the Ainu people, of unknown origins. With restrictions placed on the use of the language in 1899, Ainu speakers have all but disappeared. Today the language is said to have less than 15 "native" speakers, all of which are above he age of 60, making Ainu a "critically endangered"  language. Originally, the Ainu language had three main dialects: Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and Kuril. However, the Hokkaido dialect is the only one that survives today.

One interesting point about Ainu is that it does not have a written form. The language has lived by being passed down from parent to child for countless years and has historically been transcribed using Japanese kana. The lack of a writing system has of course hindered the ability of the Ainu to preserve their language after it was banned, and the use of Japanese kana has even influenced some Ainu pronunciations. Even so, the language has been able to live in the tradition of Ainu story telling, or Yukar, the language of which is mutually understood by all Ainu groups and is known as Classical Ainu."

From: https://www.tofugu.com/japan/ainu-japan/

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Ainu in Ethnologue
Ethnologue is a publication dedicated to language; it is widely used by linguists and is essential when analizing the state of a language.

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I have used Shibatani's transcription, which seems to be phonemic, but have omitted hyphens, which seem to be used irregularly in the original. There are lots of irregularities. Some of these are due to the variety of suffixes and prefixes. I don't know what the root or dictionary forms should be, so I just copied what I found there.

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Ainu dialects

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Yukar, or epic story, in Classical Ainu.

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アイヌ民族の芸能　　ユーカラ

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アイヌ民族の芸能　　ユーカラ 1976年録音　芦別市　砂沢クラ

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Here is an extensive list of Ainu words together with their translation to English.

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Initiatives on revitalizing the Ainu Language

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Initiatives on revitalizing the Ainu Language

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After many years of assimilation, and having been prohibited from speaking in Ainu in public, the Ainu people has achieved recognition and support through the use of international organizations, especially the United Nations.

Currently, there are a number of initiatives on revitalizing the language, most of which have support from the government; these go from courses on conversational Ainu to courses on translating it, going through radio programs and newspapers where only Ainu is used.

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The Hokkaido Univercity Center For Ainu and Indigenous Studies is dedicated to studying the Ainu culture and language, toguether with promoting them.

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Roles of CAIS

In December 2005, Dr. Mutsuo Nakamura, the then-president of Hokkaido University, declared it the university's duty to provide national and international research and education programs featuring Ainu and other indigenous minorities while respecting their dignity in light of the historical background of the university and the Ainu people.

Based on this declaration, the Center for Ainu & Indigenous Studies (CAIS) was established as one of the university's research facilities in April 2007. The Center plans to conduct comprehensive and interdisciplinary studies into Ainu and other indigenous peoples and to make proposals for their reciprocal coexistence in a multicultural society.

Public communication and education

The Center promotes interdisciplinary research and surveys concerning Ainu and other indigenous peoples around the world, and has six full-time professors specializing in history, archaeology, cultural anthropology, museology, linguistics and constitutional law. They provide open lectures to share research findings with the public and encourage Ainu people to utilize them. The Center also holds public lectures and other events regularly with researchers invited from Japan and elsewhere who specialize in the languages, histories, cultures, legal systems, intellectual property rights and other aspects of Ainu and other indigenous peoples as well as experts in the exhibition, operation and other functions of their cultural facilities. Above all, a semi-annual international symposium provides a forum for practical discussion on Ainu policies toward language restoration, cultural revival and improvement of living conditions as well as exchanges of opinions on issues to be tackled by Ainu people. For the symposium, researchers from universities and research institutions in countries with indigenous populations are invited, along with indigenous members of ethnic organizations and government institutions, to shed light on their actual situations.

In the area of HU student education, the Center provides undergraduate and graduate courses on the Ainu in conjunction with HU's undergraduate and graduate schools as well as other institutions. The courses are designed to help students - the people tasked with carrying the future of humanity - to understand previous and contemporary experiences of Ainu people and strive for ethnic harmony. As part of studies in museology, social education and other disciplines, the Center also works closely with the Hokkaido University Museum and other institutions to hold thematic exhibitions featuring Ainu and other indigenous peoples around the world. This represents part of the Center's efforts to communicate the actual situation of Ainu and other indigenous peoples today beyond stereotypes and preconceptions while exploring a new approach considered different from that of conventional museum exhibitions.

Interdisciplinary research

In addition to its full-time faculty members, the Center also enjoys the contribution of 12 part-time faculty members from HU graduate schools and other institutions. With this support, the facility also engages in research on Ainu and other indigenous peoples in a range of academic fields other than those in which the full-time faculty members specialize, such as political science, pedagogy and tourism studies. The Center further promotes joint research in each of these disciplines with other universities and research institutions in Japan as well as universities, indigenous groups and other organizations in countries with indigenous peoples. Specifically, it not only advances close research exchanges with research institutions focusing on indigenous peoples (such as establishments at Taiwan's National Chengchi University and Norway's University of Tromsø) but also serves as a point of contact for academic exchanges between HU and other universities (such as the University of Hawaii, the University of Oklahoma, and Finland's University of Helsinki).

Indigenous studies involve the collection and analysis of historical documents and materials in related fields, and particularly in those of linguistics, history and archaeology. However, in the past, precious cultural properties of Ainu and other indigenous peoples have become scattered or lost after being gathered by researchers and collectors or as a result of interaction among indigenous peoples themselves. To enable systematic analysis of all such properties, it is essential for the Center to share information with universities and research institutions in Japan as well as universities, indigenous groups and other organizations in other countries where such documents, materials and cultural properties are found. The facility collaborates with other universities and research institutions in Japan and elsewhere to build an information network relating to indigenous peoples in order to support the effective advancement of indigenous studies.

Contribution to practical cultural inheritance and other considerations

Ainu culture cannot be considered monolithic, as the traditional lifestyles and culture revealed by historical documents and materials differ from those maintained or created by Ainu people today. Accordingly, the Center also places importance on researching the cultural inheritance of Ainu people. For instance, in its research on approaches to the museum display of Ainu cultural artifacts, the facility collaborates with Ainu people today in practical activities to carry on traditional crafts and other skills while incorporating contemporary tastes so that the essential characteristics of Ainu culture do not become defined through museum exhibitions. Staff from the Center also help in Ainu-language education in Hokkaido and further disseminate information and research findings to the Ainu Museum in the Shiraoi region for its project to foster practitioners of Ainu culture who can impart traditional Ainu knowledge and skills. These initiatives exemplify the Center's efforts for effective contribution to Ainu cultural inheritance through the promotion of research and education in cooperation with the Ainu community.

Advice on Ainu policy promotion

In the Center's role as Japan's only research center specializing in studies on Ainu and other indigenous peoples, it has provided expert advice based on its own research findings to the national government for the comprehensive promotion of Ainu policy since the Diet's June 2008 adoption of the Resolution to Recognize the Ainu as an Indigenous People. It also plays a role in communicating Ainu views and experiences in other countries to the government based on the belief that the government will need positive advice from experts in the field because indigenous policy represents uncharted territory for Japan.

In this way, the Center remains committed to helping implement policy measures for the promotion of Ainu culture and the improvement of their social status to create a society in which they can enjoy and carry on their culture with pride.

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Hokkaido University Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies " About CAIS

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In December 2005, Dr. Mutsuo Nakamura, the then-president of Hokkaido University, declared it the university's duty to provide national and international research and education programs featuring Ainu and other indigenous minorities while respecting their dignity in light of the historical background of the university and the Ainu people.

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The FRPAC is the main organism related to the promotion of the Ainu language and culture. In this site there are plenty of useful sites for those interested.

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The Foundation for Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture "FRPAC"

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The Foundation for Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture FRPAC

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Summary of the Act for the Promotion of the Ainu Culture, the main Japanese legislation on the subject

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公益社団法人北海道アイヌ協会

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公益社団法人北海道アイヌ協会

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公益社団法人 北海道アイヌ協会

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公益社団法人北海道アイヌ協会のホームページです

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To finish, here is a paper that sums up this poster by including only the most important points.

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Background image: