Describes the history, modern and traditional cultural practices and economies, geographic background, and ongoing oppression and struggles of the Ainu of Japan

"Some 55 scholars, mostly Japanese but with a considerable number from the US and Europe, write about the ethnicity, theories of origin, history, economies, art

An introduction to the Ainu people of Hokkaido, Japan's original inhabitants, including their history, customs, clothing, food, habitats, and beliefs.

Once thought of as a 'vanishing people', the Ainu are now reasserting both their culture and their claims to be the 'indigenous' people of Japan. Race, Resistan

The volume is aimed at preserving invaluable knowledge about Ainu, a language-isolate previously spoken in Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and Kurils, which is now on the v