ABSTRACT

The Ainu are the Indigenous people in Japan, and Hokkaido Island is their original territory. Currently, there are around 12,000 recorded archaeological sites on Hokkaido, which range in age from the Upper Paleolithic to those of the historic Ainu culture. Approximately 80 archaeological sites are excavated there every year. These are ancestral Ainu sites. This chapter presents an interview by Hirofumi Kato with two young Ainu women provides an opportunity to examine some of the issues pertaining to the Ainu people and modern archaeology in Japan. Akemi and Rika Oshino are twin sisters who have studied the history and culture at university, and who are interested in archaeology. They graduated from the same private university in Hokkaido where they studied Ainu language and cultures. As with many of the world's Indigenous people, the number of Ainu attending university is relatively low.