The Ainu are an Indigenous people of the northern part of the Japanese archipelago, especially Hokkaido, who developed their own language, traditions, and culture. The Japanese government officially recognizes the Ainu as an Indigenous people. In 2008, both houses of the National Diet adopted a resolution calling for that recognition, and in 2019, the Ainu Policy Promotion Act came into effect.
The Ainu language is different from Japanese, and Ainu culture includes its own oral traditions, religious beliefs, dances, embroidery, woodcarving, and other forms of expression. Historically, Ainu communities lived not only in Hokkaido but also across areas including Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, building their societies while trading with surrounding peoples. Ainu people continue to live in Japan today, and Ainu culture continues to be passed on and expressed in new forms, including music and art. It is therefore misleading to think of the Ainu simply as “a people who used to live in Hokkaido.”
The expansion and development of Hokkaido by the modern Japanese state had a major impact on Ainu land, livelihoods, and culture. Assimilation policies from the Meiji period onward made it increasingly difficult to maintain traditional ways of life and pass down the Ainu language, while discrimination continued for many years. Current government policy is partly intended to address this history through cultural promotion and preservation, the transmission of Ainu traditions, and efforts to reduce discrimination.
At the same time, not every Japanese person knows much about the Ainu. Some people are familiar with Ainu history and current government policies, while others may know little beyond what they learned briefly at school. Knowledge and interest vary considerably. Depending on where people live and what they encounter in daily life, some may have almost no direct contact with Ainu culture. Even within Japan, this is not a subject that everyone understands in depth.
There is also disagreement over policies concerning the Ainu. Some people support protecting Ainu culture and helping preserve it while still arguing that public funding and related projects should be subject to stricter scrutiny. Criticism of a particular policy, funding decision, or organization, however, should be kept separate from the history and culture of the Ainu people themselves.
Understanding the Ainu requires looking beyond both the traditional clothing and crafts seen in tourist settings and the political arguments that sometimes surround Ainu policy. The Ainu are an Indigenous people with their own language and history, and they continue to live in Japan today. The question of how that culture will be passed on continues in the present. That is the most natural place to begin when trying to understand who the Ainu are.
