A traditional Ainu dance is performed on an outdoor stage to mark the opening of the National Ainu Museum and Park (Upopoy) in Shiraoi, Hokkaido, on July 12. (Asahi Shimbun file photo) ...

Upopoy occupies an about 10-hectare site. Visitors can experience Ainu song and dance performances. Yamamichi Yomaru is an Ainu who works at Upopoy. The 31-year-old was raised in the town of ...

The tanchō mate for life, and their courtship dance is a reaffirmation of their bond, performed not just once but throughout the years, a testament to their enduring connection. For the Ainu ...

Exploring the presence of her traditional Ainu culture in contemporary life is central to the work of Mayunkiki (born 1982), an artist, language teacher, musician and cultural worker from ...

The Ainu, an indigenous people predominantly living in northern Japan, have a distinct language and rich cultural traditions. Although Hokkaido has the largest Ainu population, thousands also live ...

The immediate predecessors of the Ainu, who are the native people of northeastern Japan, occupied the site. Many archeologists consider the Ainu to be the last living descendants of the Jomon ...

Nippon Television Network Corp. took the unusual step of using a news program to apologize for another program that on March 12 used a pejorative to refer to the nation’s indigenous Ainu people.

The Ainu believe that the world rests on the back of a giant trout, that otters caused human beings to be flawed, and that seeing an owl fly across the face of the moon at night is cause for great ...