The Ainu language has become critically endangered today due to various forces that have been in play for hundreds of years. In 1869, the Meiji government officially declared Hokkaido ...

Several thousand years old, the ainu language spoken in northern Japan was dying out due to political pressure from the central government. at the end of the 20th century, this trend was reversed.

Some scholars and activists are raising concerns that Indigenous voices are not being heard amid the debate over whether to host nuclear waste storage facilities.

More than a century after colonisation, the Ainu language almost vanished. Now machines are listening to hours of old recordings and learning to give it a new voice.

The story of Ainu, Japan’s indigenous language, is not just a tale of words and grammar—it’s a testament to resilience, identity, and the sheer power of cultural memory.

The Japanese government wants to turn its nuclear power stations back on - but some rural people don't want nuclear waste ...

Historically, it’s the language of the Ainu people, an Indigenous community on the island of Hokkaido in Japan. In 1972, only 14 people could speak Ainu well enough to teach it.

The Ainu were deprived of their own customs, language and lands for hunting and fishing under Japan’s policy of forced assimilation for the development of Hokkaido.

There is an urgent need to preserve the Ainu language. Although numbers are difficult to determine — questions about ethnicity are not included in the Japanese Census — it's estimated that just 25,000 ...

Immerse yourself in the rich heritage of the Ainu people with this captivating folktale told in the Ainu language. Discover the beauty of Ainu storytelling and culture, preserving traditions for ...

Like other indigenous groups, the Ainu people of Hokkaido and the north-eastern Honshu island of Japan have experienced marginalization. After the Japanese government annexed their territory in 1890, ...

A film inspired by the story of a young Ainu woman who translated into Japanese an epic poem passed down orally among the indigenous people of Hokkaido will soon have a wide domestic release.