Rental Phones 315 yen per day

Car Rentals Compact cars from around 4,000 Yen/day!

Online Hostel Bookings Hostels and inexpensive ryokan from $10 per night!

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History Politics Travel Hokkaido Shiraoi Ainu Museum

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Ainu House in the Shiraoi Ainu Museum The Ainu are a people with a cultural and racial background which is different from that of the ethnic Japanese. They have been populating Hokkaido, northern Tohoku, the Kurile Islands and Sakhalin, but today only a small population remains mainly in Hokkaido. According to one of several theories, the Ainu are descendants of Mongoloid migrants who entered the Japanese islands before the Jomon period. They were later displaced and assimilated, when the ethnic Japanese expanded their territory northernwards. In the Meiji Period (1868-1912), the Ainu received the status of "former aboriginals", but suffered under official discrimination for some years. In 1997, a new law was passed which provides funds for the research and promotion of Ainu culture.

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English Links

The Ainu Museum Much information about the history and culture of the Ainu.

Product Links

Ainu : Spirit of a Northern People Book by William W. Fitzhugh and Chisato O. Dubreuil The Ainu of Northeast Asia Book by D.W. Johnson

Japanese Links

The Ainu Museum Much information about the history and culture of the Ainu.