ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the plight of the Ainu people, who are the Indigenous inhabitants of northern Honshu, the island of Hokkaido, southern Sakhalin, and the Kurile Islands in a geographical region that sits at the border between Japan and Russia. The chapter argues that the environmental knowledge of the Ainu people can potentially provide valuable lessons for the management of regional ecosystems and use of resources. However, this knowledge has been undervalued historically due to the cultural politics in and between Japan and Russia, leading to the development of the Ainu lands under legislation which neglected or denied traditional livelihoods. The chapter highlights some isolated initiatives on Hokkaido in education, cultural transmission, and locally relevant research, and explores how the use of traditional mediums, such as Ainu oral tradition might help with a greater recognition of Indigenous Knowledge in new Ainu Cultural Promotion legislation.
