SAPPORO, JAPAN — For someone who grew up ashamed of her ethnic identity, they are powerful words. “You are beautiful just as you are. Don’t be afraid,” Mina Sakai sings to a young, enthusiastic crowd ...

Almost every 14 days, a language dies; that’s about 26 languages a year. And over 2,500 Indigenous languages are currently in danger of disappearing forever — that’s more than a third of our world’s ...

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido is well known for its world-class powder snow, delicious food and unspoiled nature. Few people outside the country, however, are ...

The ainu of japan have long been almost invisible in a society that likes to consider itself racially homogenous. Often they hide themselves. Yuki Hasegawa, for instance, grew up thinking she was ...

Indigenous student Mizuki Orita (2nd L) practices a traditional dance with members of the Ainu culture club Sapporo University - Copyright AFP Yuichi YAMAZAKI ...

TOKYO, Oct 29 (Reuters) - On a wooded lake shore in northern Japan, the government is building a modernist shrine that has divided the indigenous Ainu community whose vanishing culture it was designed ...

Growing up in Japan, musician Oki Kano never knew he was part of a “vanishing people.” His Japanese mother was divorced and never told Kano that his birth father was an indigenous Ainu man. Kano was ...

Ainu Stories: Contemporary Lives by the Saru River is the UK-first exploration of the contemporary stories of this Northern Japanese indigenous culture. Visit in the remaining weeks to experience four ...

For the first time ever, craftspeople in Japan have brought together two unique creative traditions: the intricate patterns of indigenous Ainu artists from Hokkaido, and the ceramic potteries of Arita ...