The Japanese language is notorious for its ambiguity ... that the history of Hokkaido's indigenous people, the Ainu, was about to be rewritten. Since the mid-1970s I had been investigating ...

After centuries of forced assimilation, Japan’s indigenous Ainu population, language and culture are emerging once more thanks to anime, the country’s thriving sub-cultures and YouTube.

Still, the Ainu have maintained their own language, crafts and cultural practices. And one place where their arts and crafts can be found is Ainu Kotan, a village inside the national park.

Teru starts recording “Kamui Yukar” one day at the recommendation of an Ainu language researcher who comes from Tokyo. She turns out to have such excellent Japanese translation skills that she ...