Today's Ainu: Tales from Hokkaido

by Kinko Itō

This is a book about the life stories of the Ainu people living in Hokkaido, Japan. The Ainu are the indigenous, ethnic minority group whose ancestors lived in northern Honshu, Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. Today's Ainu live just like anyone else in Japan, and they do not live in reservations. I began an ethnographic study of the Ainu during my sabbatical in 2011 and collected life stories of the Ainu people over the years. This book presents about a dozen life stories along with information on the Ainu history, language, religion, customs and manners, and philosophy. The popularity of GOLDEN KAMUY, a Japanese manga and anime series that started in 2014, has been adding fuel to the interests in the Ainu people and their culture among the young in Japan and abroad. The comic and anime are unique as being the first to use both Japanese and Ainu languages, and they have contributed to the revitalization of Ainu (a critically endangered language). My narratives vary from one section to another. Parts of my book read like a series of interviews in popular magazines while other parts read more or less like a textbook. This book has more than 100 beautiful black and white and color photographs. It is the author's sincere wish that her readers can contribute to world peace by understanding the Ainu of today.

316 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 10, 2019

Reviews

[Alice Young · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is so badly written it is difficult to force oneself to read it. Additionally, it appears to be more of a blog than an academic discussion