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78-691: The river valleys of what is now Shinhidaka were occupied by the Ainu . From the 19th century, people from Japan began to settle in the region. On March 31, 2006, the town of Mitsuishi merged with the town of Shizunai to create the new town of Shinhidaka. Shinhidaka is in southeastern Hokkaido, between the Pacific Ocean to the South and the Hidaka Mountains to the North. Several rivers rise in

156-490: A density of 18.7 persons per km. Shinhidaka was served by the JR Hokkaido Hidaka Main Line . However, no services have operated between Mukawa and Samani since January 2015, due to storm damage. Plans to restore this section of the line have been abandoned, due to declining passenger use and very high maintenance costs and the section will be officially closed on 1 April 2021 to be replaced by

234-553: A 15.7% lower enrollment into college from high school. Due to this noticeable and growing gap, the Japanese government has been lobbied by activists to research the Ainu's standard of living nationwide. The Japanese government will provide ¥ 7 million ( US$ 63,000), beginning in 2015, to conduct surveys nationwide on this matter. The existence of the Ainu has challenged the notion of ethnic homogeneity in post-WWII Japan . After

312-622: A Japanese-speaking Asian one. Today, roughly 200 Bonin Islanders remain in Japan, some still bearing the surnames of the original 18th-century settlers. The Yamato people are the dominant native ethnic group of Japan and because of their numbers, the term Yamato is often used interchangeably with the term Japanese. The Ryukyuan people (also Lewchewan ) are an indigenous people native to the Ryukyu Islands . There are different subgroups of

390-496: A bus service. Stations in Shinhidaka: Shizunai - Higashi-Shizunai - Harutachi - Hidaka-Tōbetsu - Hidaka-Mitsuishi - Hōei - Honkiri Nijikken-dōro ( 二十間道路 ) , literally, road 20 ken (36 metres (118 ft)) in width , is an avenue lined with Ezo mountain cherry Prunus sargentii , ( エゾヤマザクラ , Ezo-yamazakura ) trees and a major tourist attraction of the town. The 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) road

468-582: A fur tribute system, just as had the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Residents who were required to pay tributes had to register according to their hala ( ᡥᠠᠯᠠ , the clan of the father's side) and gashan ( ᡤᠠᡧᠠᠨ , village), and a designated chief of each unit was put in charge of district security as well as the annual collection and delivery of fur. By 1750, fifty-six hala and 2,398 households were registered as fur tribute payers, – those who paid with fur were rewarded mainly with Nishiki silk brocade , and every year

546-517: A group composed mostly of the Ulchi , Nanai , and Oroch peoples of the Amur River, commonly interacted with the Ainu people independent of the Japanese government, especially in the northern part of Hokkaido. In addition to their trading ventures, Santan traders sometimes kidnapped or purchased Ainu women from Rishiri to become their wives. This further escalated Japan's presence in the area, as

624-725: A hundred thousand years before the Children of the Sun came." The historical Ainu economy was based on farming as well as hunting, fishing, and gathering. The general consensus among historians is to associate the Ainu with the Satsumon culture , which was located in an area stretching from northern Honshu to Hokkaido. Linguists such as Juha Janhunen and Alexander Vovin argue for a Satsumon origin of Ainu dialects, with deeper links to cultures centered in Central or Northern Honshu . This

702-554: A language distinct from modern Japanese. They traditionally practiced tattooing and followed religious beliefs that are considered animism . The Ōbeikei Islanders are an ethnic group native to the Bonin Islands (also called the Ogasawara Islands), part of Tokyo Prefecture. They are descendants of Japanese , Europeans , White Americans , Polynesians and Micronesians who settled Hahajima and Chichijima in

780-427: A parliamentary question on May 20, 2008, by stating, It is a historical fact that the Ainu are the earlier arrivers of the northern Japanese archipelago , in particular Hokkaido. The Japanese government acknowledges the Ainu to be an ethnic minority as it has maintained a unique cultural identity and has a unique language and religion. However, as there is no established international definition of "indigenous people",

858-576: A relatively isolated group of people to having their land, language, religion, and customs assimilated into those of the Japanese. Their land was distributed to the Yamato Japanese settlers to create and maintain farms in the model of Western industrial agriculture. It was known as "colonization" (拓殖) at the time, but later by the euphemism , "opening up undeveloped land" ( 開拓  [ jp ] ). Additionally, factories like flour mills and beer breweries, along with mining practices, resulted in

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936-550: A source of photographs of the Japanese and Ainu close to the missions. The discrimination and negative stereotypes assigned to the Ainu have manifested in lower levels of education, income, and participation in the economy as compared to their ethnically Japanese counterparts. The Ainu community in Hokkaido in 1993 received welfare payments at a 2.3 times higher rate than that of Hokkaido as a whole. They also had an 8.9% lower enrollment rate from junior high school to high school and

1014-789: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Ainu people The Ainu are an indigenous ethnic group who reside in northern Japan and southeastern Russia, including Hokkaido and the Tōhoku region of Honshu, as well as the land surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk , such as Sakhalin , the Kuril Islands , the Kamchatka Peninsula , and the Khabarovsk Krai . They have occupied these areas, known to them as "Ainu Mosir" ( Ainu : アイヌモシㇼ , lit.   'the land of

1092-573: Is called the Ainu Culture period or Nibutani period. Active contact between the Wa-jin (ethnonym for Japanese, also known as Yamato people) and the Ainu of Ezogashima (now known as Hokkaidō ) began in this period. The Ainu formed a society of hunter-gatherers, surviving mainly by hunting and fishing. They followed a religion that was based on natural phenomena. After the Mongols conquered

1170-473: Is estimated at 127.6 million. After the demise of the multi-ethnic Empire of Japan in 1945, successive governments had forged a single Japanese identity by advocating monoculturalism and denying the existence of more than one ethnic group in Japan. It was not until 2019 when the Japanese parliament passed an act to recognize the Ainu people to be indigenous. However, the notion of ethnic homogeneity

1248-487: Is home to the second largest Brazilian community outside of Brazil . They also constitute the largest number of Portuguese speakers in Asia , even greater than those of formerly Portuguese East Timor , Macao and Goa combined. Likewise, Brazil maintains its status as home to the largest Japanese community outside of Japan. Like Brazilians in Japan, there are Peruvians in the country, some of whom had migrated to Peru when

1326-678: Is in part supported by Ainu-derived loanwords observed in Eastern Old Japanese and the probable distant link between the Ainu and the Emishi . It has also been noted that the Okhotsk culture played a role in the formation of the later Ainu culture. The origin of the Okhotsk culture itself is subject to research. While Okhotsk remains display affinity to the modern Nivkh people of northern Sakhalin, both also display affinities to

1404-618: The Ainu , the Ryukyuan people , the Emishi , and the Hayato ; some of whom were dispersed or absorbed by other groups. Ethnic groups that inhabited the Japanese islands during prehistory include the Jomon people and lesser-known Paleolithic groups. In more recent history, a number of immigrants from other countries have made their home in Japan . According to census statistics in 2018, 97.8% of

1482-597: The Jōmon peoples of Japan, pointing to a possible heterogeneous makeup of Okhotsk society. Satsumon pottery has been found among Okhotsk sites, pointing to a complex network of contacts in the wider area around the Sea of Okhotsk. The emergence of the Ainu culture is henceforth primarily attributed to the Satsumon culture, which later received some contributions from the Okhotsk culture via cultural contacts in northern Hokkaido after

1560-464: The indigenous Japanese hunter-gatherers who lived in Japan during the Jōmon period ( c. 14,000 to 300 BCE). The exact origins of the early Ainu remain unclear, but it is generally agreed to be linked to the Satsumon culture of the Epi-Jōmon period , with later influences from the nearby Okhotsk culture . The Ainu culture may be better described as an "Ainu cultural complex", taking into account

1638-430: The 1899 Hokkaido Former Aborigines Protection Act . This law and its associated policies were designed to fully integrate the Ainu into Japanese society while erasing Ainu culture and identity. The Ainu's position as manual laborers and their forced integration into larger Japanese society have led to discriminatory practices by the Japanese government that can still be felt today. Intermarriage between Japanese and Ainu

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1716-629: The 18th century, there were 80,000 Ainu, but by 1868, there were only about 15,000 Ainu in Hokkaido, 2,000 in Sakhalin, and around 100 in the Kuril Islands. Despite their growing influence in the area in the early 19th century as a result of these policies, the Tokugawa shogunate was unable to gain a monopoly on Ainu trade with those on the Asian mainland, even by the year 1853. Santan traders,

1794-554: The 18th century. They speak a dialect of English, called Bonin English , and have traditionally practiced Christianity . Legal status of Bonin Islanders passed back and forth between the United States and Japan over the years and, during and after World War II , many Bonin Islanders were forced to leave their homes. Some emigrated to the United States, finding it easier to assimilate into an English-speaking Western culture than

1872-569: The 19th century around the Meiji Restoration included forcing Ainu peoples off their land. This, in turn, forced them to give up traditional ways of life such as subsistence hunting and fishing. Ainu people were not allowed to practice their religion and were placed into Japanese-language schools, where speaking the Ainu language was forbidden. In 1966, there were about 300 native Ainu speakers; in 2008, there were about 100. In recent years, there have been increasing efforts to revitalize

1950-410: The Ainu as an ethnically distinct group, political figures in Japan continue to define ethnic homogeneity as key to the overall Japanese national identity. For example, then Deputy Prime Minister Tarō Asō notably claimed in 2020, "No other country but this one has lasted for as long as 2,000 years with one language, one ethnic group, and one dynasty ." The Ainu are regarded as having descended from

2028-448: The Ainu language. This people's most widely known ethnonym , Ainu ( Ainu : アィヌ ; Japanese : アイヌ ; Russian: Айны ), means 'human' in the Ainu language , particularly as opposed to kamui , 'divine beings'. Ainu also identify themselves as Utari ('comrades' or 'people'). Official documents use both names. The name first appeared as Aino in a 1591 Latin manuscript titled De yezorum insula . This document gives

2106-488: The Ainu to be an ethnic minority as it has maintained a unique cultural identity and having a unique language and religion." Historical minorities: Modern minorities: The Ainu people (also Aynu) are an indigenous people native to Hokkaido and northeastern Honshu , as well as the nearby Russian Sakhalin and Kuril Islands (both formerly part of the Japanese Empire), and Kamchatka Peninsula . They possess

2184-818: The Ainu';) or "Kuye Fiyaka" ( ᡴᡠᠶᡝ ᡶᡳᠶᠠᡴᠠ ). The Manchus called it "Sagaliyan ula angga hada" (Island at the Mouth of the Black River). The Qing first asserted influence over Sakhalin after the 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk , which defined the Stanovoy Mountains as the border between the Qing and the Russian Empires . In the following year the Qing sent forces to the Amur estuary and demanded that

2262-488: The Ainu'), since before the arrival of the modern Yamato and Russians . These regions are often referred to as Ezochi ( 蝦夷地 ) and its inhabitants as Emishi ( 蝦夷 ) in historical Japanese texts. Along with the Yamato and Ryukyu ethnic groups, the Ainu people are one of the primary historic ethnic groups of Japan . Official estimates place the total Ainu population in Japan at 25,000. Unofficial estimates place

2340-406: The Ainu. The Emishi may, however, have also included non-Ainu groups, which can either be associated with groups distantly related to the Ainu (Ainu-like groups) but forming their own ethnicity, or early Japonic-speakers outside the influence of the Yamato court. The Emishi display clear material culture links to the Ainu of Hokkaido. Based on Ainu-like toponyms throughout Tohoku, it is argued that

2418-719: The Amur region, which was then controlled by the Yuan dynasty , resulting in reprisals by the Mongols who invaded Sakhalin . From the Nivkh perspective, their surrender to the Mongols essentially established a military alliance against the Ainu who had invaded their lands. According to the History of Yuan , a group of people known as the Guwei ( 骨嵬 ; Gǔwéi , the phonetic approximation of

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2496-656: The Emishi, like the Ainu, descended from the Epi-Jōmon tribes and initially spoke Ainu-related languages. The term "Emishi" in the Nara period (710–794) referred to people who lived in the Tohoku region and whose lifestyle and culture differed markedly from that of the Yamato people ; it was originally a highly cultural and political concept with no racial distinction. From the mid-Heian period onward, Emishi who did not fall under

2574-627: The Japanese government and mainstream population regarded them as dirty and primitive barbarians. The majority of Ainu were forced to be petty laborers during the Meiji Restoration , which saw the introduction of Hokkaido into the Japanese Empire and the privatization of traditional Ainu lands. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Japanese government denied the rights of the Ainu to their traditional cultural practices, such as hunting, gathering, and speaking their native language. The legal denial of Ainu cultural practices mostly stemmed from

2652-408: The Japanese government passed an act labeling the Ainu as "former aborigines", with the idea that they would assimilate . This resulted in the Japanese government taking the land where the Ainu people lived and placing it under Japanese control. Also at this time, the Ainu were granted automatic Japanese citizenship, effectively denying them the status of an indigenous group. The Ainu went from being

2730-781: The Japanese government, the principal groups are as follows. The above statistics do not include the approximately 30,000 U.S. military stationed in Japan , nor do they account for illegal immigrants . The statistics also do not take into account minority groups who are Japanese citizens such as the Ainu (an aboriginal people primarily living in Hokkaido), the Ryukyuans (from the Ryukyu Islands south of mainland Japan), naturalized citizens from backgrounds including but not limited to Korean and Chinese, and citizen descendants of immigrants. The total legal resident population of 2012

2808-565: The Jin dynasty (1234) , Karafuto (Sakhalin)-Ainu suffered raids by the Nivkh and Udege peoples . In response, the Mongols established an administration post at Nurgan (present-day Tyr, Russia ) at the junction of the Amur and Amgun rivers in 1263, and forced the submission of the two peoples. In 1264, the Krafuto-Ainu invaded the land of the Nivkh people. They also started an expedition into

2886-493: The Jomon and Epi-Jomon periods, which were anterior to the Ainu cultural period. This implies that the Okhotsk culture contributed to the formation of the Ainu culture. While the view that the ancient Emishi were identical to the Ainu has been largely disproven by current research, the exact relationship between them is still under dispute. It is agreed that at least some Emishi spoke Ainu languages and were ethnically related to

2964-650: The Kuye by their neighbors. The Qing dynasty called Sakhalin Kuyedao ("island of the Ainu"). The island was also called Kuye Fiyaka . The word Kuye used by the Qing is "most probably related to kuyi , the name given to the Sakhalin Ainu by their Nivkh and Nanai neighbors." When the Ainu migrated onto the mainland, the Chinese described a "strong Kui (or Kuwei, Kuwu, Kuye, Kugi, i.e. Ainu) presence in

3042-614: The Matsumae, took control of Sakhalin in 1807. Mogami's interest in the Sakhalin trade intensified when he learned that Yaenkoroaino, the above-mentioned elder from Nayoro, possessed a memorandum written in Manchurian, which stated that the Ainu elder was an official of the Qing state. Later surveys on Sakhalin by shogunal officials such as Takahashi Jidayú and Nakamura Koichiró only confirmed earlier observations: Sakhalin and Sóya Ainu traded foreign goods at trading posts, and because of

3120-865: The Ming established an outpost called the Nurgan Regional Military Commission near the ruins of Tyr on the Siberian mainland, which continued operating until the mid-1430s. There is some evidence that the Ming eunuch Admiral Yishiha reached Sakhalin in 1413 during one of his expeditions to the lower Amur, and granted Ming titles to a local chieftain. The Ming recruited headmen from Sakhalin for administrative posts such as commander ( 指揮使 ; zhǐhuīshǐ ), assistant commander ( 指揮僉事 ; zhǐhuī qiānshì ), and "official charged with subjugation" ( 衛鎮撫 ; wèizhènfǔ ). In 1431, one such assistant commander, Alige, brought marten pelts as tribute to

3198-855: The Ming took tribute from Sakhalin and the Amur River region. Due to Ming rule in Manchuria, Chinese cultural and religious influence such as Chinese New Year , the " Chinese god ", and motifs such as dragons, spirals, and scrolls spread among the Ainu, Nivkh, and Amur natives such as the Udeghes , Ulchis , and Nanais . These groups also adopted material goods and practices such as agriculture, husbandry, heating, iron cooking pots, silk, and cotton. The Manchu Qing dynasty , which came to power in China in 1644, called Sakhalin "Kuyedao" ( Chinese : 库页岛 ; pinyin : Kùyè dǎo ; lit. 'island of

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3276-678: The Nivkh name for Ainu) from Sakhalin invaded and fought with the Jilimi (Nivkh people) every year. On November 30, 1264, the Mongols attacked the Ainu. The Karafuto-Ainu resisted the Mongol invasions but by 1308 had been subdued. They paid tribute to the Mongol Yuan dynasty at posts in Wuliehe, Nanghar, and Boluohe. The Chinese Ming dynasty (1368–1644) placed Sakhalin under its "system for subjugated peoples" ( ximin tizhi ). From 1409 to 1411

3354-457: The Qing dynasty when the Qing exercised jurisdiction in Sakhalin and took tribute from them. In 1635, Matsumae Kinhiro , the second daimyō of Matsumae Domain in Hokkaidō, sent Satō Kamoemon and Kakizaki Kuroudo on an expedition to Sakhalin. One of the Matsumae explorers, Kodō Shōzaemon, stayed in the island in the winter of 1636 and sailed along the east coast to Taraika (now Poronaysk ) in

3432-418: The Qing office. The Ainu also sold the silk uniforms ( mangpao , bufu , and chaofu ) given to them by the Qing, which made up the majority of what the Japanese knew as nishiki and jittoku . As dynastic uniforms, the silk was of considerably higher quality than that traded at Nagasaki , and enhanced Matsumae prestige as exotic items. Eventually the Tokugawa government, realizing that they could not depend on

3510-450: The Qing sent officials directly to these regions every year to collect tribute and to present awards. By the 1730s, the Qing had appointed senior figures among the indigenous communities as "clan chief" ( hala-i-da ) or "village chief" ( gasan-da or mokun-da ). In 1732, 6 hala , 18 gasban , and 148 households were registered as tribute bearers in Sakhalin. Manchu officials gave tribute missions rice, salt, other necessities, and gifts during

3588-615: The Ryukyuan ethnic group, the Okinawan , Amami , Miyako , Yaeyama and Yonaguni peoples. Their languages comprise the Ryukyuan languages , one of the two branches of the Japonic language family (the other being Japanese and its dialects). The Ryukyuans have a distinct culture with some matriarchal elements, native religion , and cuisine which had fairly late (12th century) introduction of rice . Chinese people in Japan are

3666-450: The Satsumon culture expanded northwards and into Sakhalin. This view has been corroborated by later analyses. Archaeologists have considered that bear worship, which is a religious practice widely observed among the northern Eurasian ethnic groups (including the Ainu, Finns, Nivkh, and Sami), was also shared by the Okhotsk people. On the other hand, no traces of such a religious practice have ever been discovered from archaeological sites of

3744-411: The Tokugawa shogunate believed a monopoly on the Santan trade would better protect the Ainu people. In 1869, the imperial government established the Hokkaidō Development Commission as part of the Meiji Restoration . Researcher Katarina Sjöberg quotes Baba 's 1890 account of the Japanese government's reasoning: ... The development of Japan's large northern island had several objectives: First, it

3822-505: The Wuliehe post. In 1437, four other assistant commanders (Zhaluha, Sanchiha, Tuolingha, and Alingge) also presented tribute. According to the Ming Veritable Records , these posts, like the position of headman, were hereditary and passed down the patrilineal line. During these tributary missions, the headmen would bring their sons, who later inherited their titles. In return for tribute, the Ming awarded them with silk uniforms. Nivkh women in Sakhalin married Han Chinese Ming officials when

3900-465: The area otherwise dominated by the Gilemi or Jilimi (Nivkh and other Amur peoples)." Related names were in widespread use in the region, for example the Kuril Ainu called themselves koushi . The Old Japanese exonym 蝦夷 ( Emi 1 si ) was coined according to the Kojiki-den from 蝦 ("shrimp") + 夷 ("barbarian") as a reference to their hairiness and savagery. The term is considered an insult by contemporary Ainu. The Ainu are considered

3978-428: The creation of infrastructure such as roads and railway lines during a development period that lasted until 1904. During this time, the Ainu were ordered to cease religious practices such as animal sacrifice and the custom of tattooing. The same act applied to the native Ainu on Sakhalin after its annexation as Karafuto Prefecture . The Ainu have historically suffered from economic and social discrimination, as both

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4056-416: The demise of the multi-ethnic Empire of Japan in 1945, successive governments forged a single Japanese identity by advocating monoculturalism and denying the existence of more than one ethnic group in Japan. Following the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, Hokkaido politicians pressured the government to recognize Ainu rights. Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo answered

4134-402: The duration of their mission. Tribute missions occurred during the summer months. During the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735–95), a trade post existed at Delen, upstream of Kiji (Kizi) Lake, according to Rinzo Mamiya . There were 500–600 people at the market during Mamiya's stay there. Local native Sakhalin chiefs had their daughters taken as wives by Manchu officials as sanctioned by

4212-478: The dynasty supplied the chief of each clan and village with official silk clothes ( mangpao , duanpao ), which were the gowns of the mandarin. Those who offered especially large fur tributes were granted the right to create a familial relationship with officials of the Manchu Eight Banners (at the time equivalent to Chinese aristocrats) by marrying an official's adopted daughter. Further, the tribute payers were allowed to engage in trade with officials and merchants at

4290-535: The end of World War II. South Asians in Japan live mostly in Tokyo. Indians in Japan consist of migrants from India to Japan and their descendants. As of June 2022, there were 40,752 Indian nationals living in Japan. Indians in Japan are primarily employed in the information technology industry and other office jobs where English language is used. Filipinos in Japan formed a population of 202,592 individuals at year-end 2007, making them Japan's third-largest foreign community along with Brazilians, according to

4368-417: The governance of the Yamato Kingship were singled out as northern Emishi. They began to be referred to as "Ezo" (Emishi). Ethnic groups of Japan Among the several native ethnic groups of Japan , the predominant group are the Yamato Japanese , who trace their origins back to the Yayoi period and have held political dominance since the Asuka period . Other historical ethnic groups have included

4446-439: The government is not in a position to conclude whether the Ainu should be referred as "indigenous people"... On June 6, 2008, the National Diet of Japan passed a non-binding, bipartisan resolution calling upon the government to recognize the Ainu as indigenous people . In 2019, eleven years after this resolution, the Diet finally passed an act recognizing the Ainu as an indigenous people of Japan. Despite this recognition of

4524-475: The largest foreign minorities in Japan. They comprise 0.64% of Japan's population. Chinese people are mostly concentrated in the Osaka , Tokyo and Yokohama areas. Koreans in Japan are the fifth largest ethnic minorities in the country. Most of them arrived in the early 20th century. As of 2024, there are 411,043 Koreans in Japan who are not Japanese citizens. A small number of Nivkh people resettled in Hokkaido when Japan evacuated southern Sakhalin at

4602-423: The mountains and empty into the sea, including the Shizunai River and the Mitsuishi River . Shinhidaka has total area of 1,147.74 km. Its highest location is Mount Kamuiekuuchikaushi ( 42°37′30″N 142°45′58″E  /  42.62500°N 142.76611°E  / 42.62500; 142.76611 ) at 1,979.4 m (6,494 ft). As of November 2021, the town has an estimated population of 21,415, and

4680-404: The native name of Hokkaido as Aino moxori , or Ainu mosir , 'land of the Ainu'. The terms Aino and Ainu did not come into common use as ethnonyms until the early 19th century. The ethnonym first appeared in an 1819 German encyclopedia article. Neither European nor Japanese sources conceived of the Ainu as a distinct ethnic group until the late 1700s. The Ainu were also called

4758-439: The native people of Hokkaido , southern Sakhalin , and the Kurils . Ainu toponyms support the historical view that the Ainu people lived in several places throughout northern Honshu. There is also a possibility that Ainu speakers lived throughout the Amur region as suggested by various Ainu loanwords found in the Uilta and Ulch languages. Ainu shares a number of cognates with Old Korean , that appear to be unlikely to be

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4836-477: The population of Japan are Japanese , with the remainder being foreign nationals residing in Japan. The number of foreign workers has been increasing dramatically in recent years, due to the aging population and the lack of labor force. A news article in 2018 states that approximately 1 out of 10 young people residing in Tokyo are foreign nationals. About 2.3% of Japan's total legal resident population are foreign citizens. Of these, according to 2020 data from

4914-425: The population. In an early colonization attempt, a Japanese settlement was established at Ōtomari on Sakhalin's southern end in 1679. In the 1780s, the influence of the Japanese Tokugawa Shogunate on the Ainu of southern Sakhalin increased significantly. By the beginning of the 19th century, the Japanese economic zone extended midway up the east coast, to Taraika. With the exception of the Nayoro Ainu located on

4992-500: The pressure to meet quotas, they fell into debt. These goods, the officials confirmed, originated at Qing posts, where continental traders acquired them during tributary ceremonies. The information contained in these types of reports turned out to be a serious blow to the future of Matsumae's trade monopoly in Ezo. From 1799 to 1806, the Tokugawa shogunate took direct control of southern Hokkaido. Japan proclaimed sovereignty over Sakhalin in 1807, and in 1809 Mamiya Rinzō claimed that it

5070-490: The regional variable subgroups of Ainu peoples. While the Ainu can be considered a continuation of the indigenous Jomon culture, they also display links to surrounding cultures, pointing to a larger cultural complex flourishing around the Sea of Okhotsk . Some authors have also described the development of the Ainu culture as the "resistance" of a Jomon society to the emerging Japanese state. One of their Yukar Upopo , or legends, tells that "[T]he Ainu lived in this place

5148-428: The residents, including the Sakhalin Ainu, pay tribute. This was followed by several further visits to the island as part of the Qing effort to map the area. To enforce its influence, the Qing sent soldiers and mandarins across Sakhalin, reaching most parts of the island except the southern tip. The Qing imposed a fur-tribute system on the region's inhabitants. The Qing dynasty ruled these regions by imposing upon them

5226-491: The result of a Japonic intermediary. The ancestors of the Ainu, who were referred to as Emishi, came under Japanese subjugation starting in the 9th century and were pushed to the northern islands. Following the Zoku-Jōmon period , which began in the 5th century BC, and the subsequent Satsumon period , from around the 13th century the Ainu established their own culture by absorbing the surrounding culture while engaging in transit trade between Honshu and north-east Asia. This

5304-449: The southeastern or Hidaka region of Hokkaido where ethnic Ainu live, such as in Nibutani ( Niputay ). From the early 1870s, Christian missionary work was conducted among the Ainu. The Anglican Communion missionaries included the Rt. Rev. Philip Fyson , Bishop of Hokkaido , and the Rev. John Batchelor . Batchelor wrote extensively in English about the beliefs and daily life of the Ainu in Yezo (or Ezo ), and his publications are

5382-447: The spring of 1637. The Tokugawa bakufu (feudal government) granted the Matsumae clan exclusive rights to trade with the Ainu in the northern part of the island. Later, the Matsumae began to lease out trading rights to Japanese merchants, and contact between Japanese and Ainu became more extensive. Throughout this period, Ainu groups competed with each other to import goods from the Japanese, and epidemic diseases such as smallpox reduced

5460-429: The statistics of the Ministry of Justice. In 2006, Japanese/Filipino marriages were the most frequent of all international marriages in Japan. As of March 12, 2011, the Filipino population of Japan was 305,972. As of April 1, 2020, the number of Filipinos in Japan is estimated at 325,000. 448,053 Vietnamese people were living in Japan by the end of 2020. There is a significant community of Brazilians in Japan, which

5538-423: The total population at 200,000 or higher, as the near-total assimilation of the Ainu into Japanese society has resulted in many individuals of Ainu descent having no knowledge of their ancestry. The Ainu are one of the few ethnic minorities native to the Japanese islands. They were subject to forced assimilation and colonization by the Japanese since at least the 18th century. Japanese assimilation policies in

5616-542: The tribute location. By these policies, the Qing dynasty brought political stability to the region and established the basis for commerce and economic development. The Qing dynasty established an office in Ningguta , situated midway along the Mudan River , to handle fur from the lower Amur and Sakhalin. Tribute was supposed to be brought to regional offices, but the lower Amur and Sakhalin were considered too remote, so

5694-533: The west coast in close proximity to China, most Ainu stopped paying tribute to the Qing dynasty. The Matsumae clan was nominally in charge of Sakhalin, but they neither protected nor governed the Ainu there. Instead they extorted the Ainu for Chinese silk, which they sold in Honshu as Matsumae's special product. To obtain Chinese silk, the Ainu fell into debt, owing much fur to the Santan ( Ulch people ), who lived near

5772-444: Was actively promoted by the Ainu to lessen the chances of discrimination against their offspring. As a result, many Ainu today are indistinguishable from their Japanese neighbors, but some Ainu-Japanese are interested in traditional Ainu culture. For example, Oki , born as the child of an Ainu father and a Japanese mother, became a musician who plays the traditional Ainu instrument, the tonkori . There are also many small towns in

5850-415: Was an island. During this period, Ainu women were separated from their husbands and either subjected to rape or forcibly married to Japanese men. Meanwhile, Ainu men were deported to merchant subcontractors for five- and ten-year terms of service. Policies of family separation and assimilation, combined with the impact of smallpox, caused the Ainu population to drop significantly in the early 19th century. In

5928-762: Was created for a visit of the Imperial Family to the nearby Niikappu horse ranch in 1903. The ranch is under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Household Agency . It took five years to transplant trees from the local mountains to create the avenue. It was finished in 1916. Shinhidaka holds a cherry blossom festival yearly in May at the road in Shizunai ward. Shinhidaka's mascots are Konbuman ( こんぶマン ) and Kobune-chan ( こぶねちゃん ) . They are superhero siblings. This Hokkaidō location article

6006-547: Was seen as a means to defend Japan from a rapidly developing and expansionist Russia . Second ... it offered a solution to the unemployment for the former samurai class ... Finally, development promised to yield the needed natural resources for a growing capitalist economy. As a result of the Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875) , the Kuril Islands—along with their Ainu inhabitants—came under Japanese administration. In 1899,

6084-423: Was so ingrained in Japan, to which the former Prime Minister Taro Aso (1940-), in 2020, notably claimed in an election campaign speech that “No other country but this one has lasted for as long as 2,000 years with one language , one ethnic group and one dynasty ”. Pioneering remarks about ethnic rights was first made by Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo on 20 May 2008, who stated at the parliament, "We acknowledge

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