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Sapporo Snow Festival opens with all Covid restrictions removed
Published on 05/02/2024
» SAPPORO: The annual Sapporo Snow Festival opened in the capital of Hokkaido on Sunday without any novel coronavirus-related restrictions for the first time in four years.
Native Ainu fight to regain fishing rights
Sunday Spotlight, Published on 23/07/2023
» Masaki Sashima gazed through the fog one recent afternoon onto the grey waters of the Tokachi River in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island. From here, his indigenous people, the Ainu, once used spears and nets to catch the salmon they regarded as gifts from the gods.
Japan's Indigenous peoples fight stigma to reclaim identities
AFP, Published on 17/02/2023
» BIRATORI/NAHA (JAPAN) - In a forest in northern Japan's Hokkaido, Atsushi Monbetsu kneels on the moss in the thick morning fog and begins to pray in a language that has nearly disappeared.
Festive farewell
Life, John Clewley, Published on 17/08/2021
» The closing ceremony of the recent Tokyo Olympics was a surprise for many people. The organisers, recognising that many athletes were unable to explore Tokyo due to restrictions, transformed the Olympic stadium into a massive public park. The park featured typical Japanese leisure activities like yoga and rope skipping and a short film that showed the athletes what Japanese festival music and dancing is like, with clips from the Ainu in Hokkaido, Eisa dancing from Okinawa and Gujo Odori from Gifu, which led to live Bon Odori dancing in the stadium, driven by a booming taiko drum.
Japan to recognise indigenous Ainu people for first time
AFP, Published on 15/02/2019
» TOKYO: The Japanese government introduced legislation on Friday to recognise the country's ethnic Ainu minority as an "indigenous" people for the first time, after decades of discrimination against the group.
Elderly Japanese pine for return to 'lost' northern islands
AFP, Published on 02/11/2018
» NEMURO, Japan: Yoi Hasegawa still remembers when armed Soviet soldiers burst into her house just days after Japan's World War II surrender and tried to drag away her teenaged sister.
Japan baseball team to remove advert that offended indigenous Ainu
AFP, Published on 09/11/2015
» TOKYO - A Japanese professional baseball team said on Monday it will take down advertising banners at a local airport after complaints lodged by the indigenous Ainu ethnic group.
Free wi-fi boosts tourism
Life, Karnjana Karnjanatawe, Published on 27/09/2012
» The Information and Communications Technology Ministry has joined hands with the Tourism and Sports Ministry to introduce free Wi-fi at 1,615 popular tourism spots nationwide.
Japan's indigenous people eye political power
AFP, Published on 15/08/2012
» Shiro Kayano was once just like the millions of salarymen who populate Japan's neon-lit cities. He wore a suit and tie, bought the latest technology and earned a pay cheque in Tokyo's advertising sector.
Hues of Hokkaido
Life, Pongpet Mekloy, Published on 02/08/2012
» Two years ago I visited Hokkaido for the first time. The northern island of Japan was virtually all white, covered with snow which attracted hordes of winter sports lovers from over the world. I was there again last week. This time it's summer, the season when Hokkaido's amazing array of colours is most vividly exposed.