The Ainu

My followers! While i'm waiting for my latest disposible camera photos to develop so that i can tell what i've been doing recently, I feel it's only right to write a blog about the "Ainu" people, the indiginous people of Japan who were here before the Yayoi people (ancient Japanese) arrived around 400 BC.

The Ainu , moved further north when the Japanese started to settle the land and were mainly situated in northern Japan, in particular in Hokkaido, the northernmost island, where I spent some time a couple of weeks ago.

Few remain today, as they are mostly mixed with the Japanese population, but i was lucky enough to come across a very different looking fellow when I was taking a stroll early one morning in Kushiro National Park in Hokkaido. He was clearly a guide and was giving a young man a nature tour. I subtley took a couple of photos and later checked with the hostal landlady wheather he was indeed an Ainu, which she confirmed as he was apparently one of her neighbours.

I didn't find out as much as I would have liked about the Ainu; I managed to visit an Ainu museum on one occasion, but at least I had a close encounter with an Ainu fellow. He's the one that looks like the Malboro Man in the photos. Click on the images and enlarge to see the difference more clearly.