The Ainu, the aboriginal inhabitants of northernmost island (Hokkaido) of the Japanese Archipelago, are ethnic minority population in Japan. They generally show unique physical characteristics such as hairiness, wavy hair, and deep-set eyes, which are very different from those of the ordinary Japanese.
We compared genome-wide SNP data of the Ainu, Ryukyuans and Mainland Japanese, and found the following results: (1) the Ainu are genetically different from Mainland Japanese living in Tohoku, the northern part of Honshu Island; (2) using Ainu as descendants of the Jomon people and continental Asians (Han Chinese, ...
Genetic testing has shown that the Ainu belong mainly to Y-DNA haplogroup D-M55 (D1a2) and C-M217.
The Ainu are an indigenous people from the northern region of the Japanese archipelago, particularly Hokkaido.
The Ainu look like Caucasian people, they have white skin, their hair is wavy and thick, their heads are monocephalic (round) and a few have gray or blue eyes. However, their blood types are more like the Mongolian people, possibly through many millennia of intermixing.
The Jomon were the original indigenous people of Japan. The Ainu descend from these original hunter-gatherers. The Jomon were later joined by the Yayoi, rice farmers from Korea, who spread northward across the archipelago.
The policies undertaken in the Meiji Era (1868 to 1912) to establish a modern nation-state resulted in decisive damage to Ainu cultural heritage and, coupled with discrimination from the overwhelming influx of wajin immigrants, marginalized the Ainu people and relegated them to poor living conditions.
Ainu: The indigenous people of Hokkaido and Japan
The word 'Ainu' means 'human being'. Ainu people are descendants of the Jomon people who have lived in Hokkaido for over 14,000 years.
Japan's indigenous people, the Ainu, were the earliest settlers of Hokkaido, Japan's northern island. But most travellers will not have heard of them.
Japan finally began to acknowledge the existence of the Ainu as an ethnic group in recent decades, under domestic and international pressure. The 1899 law was repealed in 1997, and funds were provided to promote Ainu culture, helping to revive their language, dance and music.
Physically, the Ainu stand out distinctly from the Japanese as a separate ethnic group. Ainu people tend to have light skin, a stout frame, deep-set eyes with a European shape, and thick, wavy hair. Full-blooded Ainu may have even had blue eyes or brown hair.
According to UNESCO, Ainu is an endangered language, with few native speakers amongst the country's approximately 30,000 Ainu people, a number that may be higher due to a potentially low rate of self-identification as Ainu within the country's ethnic Ainu population.
The two Indigenous Peoples of Japan, the Ainu and the Okinawans, live on the northernmost and southernmost islands of the country's archipelago.
They clustered primarily with East Asians (with admixture estimates of about 80% Japanese and 19% Chinese) and no other world region had a significant contribution.
In general, genetic differences between Japanese and Han Chinese are larger than that between Korean and Han Chinese. In general, genetic differences between Japanese and Han Chinese are larger than that between Korean and Han Chinese.
The Ainu share ancestry with northeast Siberians but not with central Siberians.
The average IQ of the Ainu people is estimated to be 97.2. Their IQ profile is more tilted toward visuospatial ability than the Japanese. Their large crania suggest their genetic relationships with Arctic peoples.
In addition, in June 2008, the Diet unanimously passed “a resolution that recognizes the Ainu as indigenous peoples of Japan” on a basis of United Nations Declaration.
The Meiji government outlawed the Ainu language, putting restrictions on the Ainu Peoples' traditional livelihood, dispossessing them of their land, and imposing a new way of life. Salmon fishing and deer hunting were banned, which worsened the situation of Ainu people.
The Ainu were the Africoid/ African descent people who settled ancient Japan. It is often told in history about how Japan defeated Russia in a brilliant naval / military campaign at Port Arthur . They never show you the Black Japanese Generals who were part of that war.
There is less than a one percent chance for a full-blooded Japanese person to be born with blue eyes, meaning it can happen but almost never does. Since blue eyes and blond hair are seen more often in everyday life in Japan, it's not often that someone will stare or ask questions about where you're from.
The Okinawans and the Ainu are direct descendants of the Jōmon people from South East Asia, hunters, gatherers, and fishermen (ca. 8000 B.C.- ca. 400 B.C.). The ancestors of the Japanese people were agrarian Yayoi people who immigrated from North Asia through Korea (ca.
As described earlier, conventionally, the Ainu are considered to be descended from the Hokkaido Jomon people, with little admixture with other populations.
Before 1869 Hokkaido was known to Wajin (ethnic Japanese) as Ezo. While the Japanese considered Ezo to be within their sphere of influence and there was a Japanese zone (Wajinchi) in the southern tip of Ezo from the 16th century, Ezo was a foreign land inhabited by the Ainu people.
Irankarapte is the Ainu greeting for hello and it conveys a warm, sincere message of "Allow me to softly touch your heart." This word will come to represent the hospitality of Hokkaido. Let Irankarapte allow you to come into contact with the Ainu culture and Through Irankarapte.