Ainu
All Blog Posts, History in Japan, Japan Geography

The Ainu People of Japan Revealed – Who Are They?

The Ainu culture in Hokkaido Japan and HistoryWho are the Ainu?

The Japanese Version of an American Indian

I originally started writing this because I did a post on Hokkaido, and it’s hard to mention Hokkaido if you do not bring up the Ainu people and their culture, as most of Hokkaido has been shaped by these people and their past.

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This is a new video below as the old one was deleted, it’s quicker and to the point. But do take a gander at the article to fill in any gaps the video may miss.

The Ainu (which means ‘human’) or also called the Aynu, Ezo, Emishi and Ebisu are indigenous people of Hokkaido, Japan. They are also said to be from the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin and Russia as well as the very northern area of Honshu which is mostly Aomori, Japan.

It’s said that there is only around 25,000 of these people left in Japan and in Russia. But some say there could be up to 175,000. But no matter the number, there is only around 2-10 native speaking Ainu’s left in the world! These people could very well be described as the Japanese version of an American Indian. They prayed to nature, felt that all things in nature had a spirit or god within it. From animals to plants to even objects, they felt all things had a basic energy amongst it that made it special. So the word Ainu is in opposition to these gods in their religion.

Suggested Reading:

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Ainu Forgotten Book
Kutune Shirka a Great Epic of the Ainu People

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Ainu Sympathetic Magic Native People of Japan book
A Fantastic look into the magic of the Ainu People

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The First Ainu People of Japan
A great depth of the Ainu People in Japan (Highly Recommended)

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Hokkaido was originally called Ezo by the native Ainu, and in 1869 1 year after the Meiji period began, the new government changed the name as Japan incorporated Hokkaido as a Japanese controlled land mass. 30 years later the Japanese government passed a law/act that labeled these Ainu peoples as ‘former aborigines’ which immediately made them legal Japanese citizens, and further denied them the status of claiming that they are indigenous.

Old Photo of Ainu People in JapanOnce this happened their lands of Hokkaido were then distributed to the Wajin which literally means ‘Wa people’, the Wajin are names given to the dominant native ethnic group of Japan, so immediately this brought about a racial discrimination into the culture, from those ‘original’ Japanese and the newly appointed Ainu. This push for reclamation of the Ainu lands was to said to accomplish a few different challenges that the Japanese government wanted to settle.

1st they said it was a means to defend Japan from a quickly expanding Russia. 2nd it would fix the ever growing unemployment rates for the former samurai class. The Japanese government also took Hokkaido to help with natural resource gathering for their ever expanding capitalist economy.

What ever the reasons were in the beginnings of the Japanese and Ainu’s relationship it’s been tough. Many revolts took place while the Japanese continued their attempt at controlling these native people and their way of life by trying to merge them into their culture and once they finally did in 1899 they were forced to learn Japanese and adopt Japanese customs, but before all this was ever to take place the revolts of the Ainu people were heard several times in Japanese history.

In 1336 during the Muromachi period, the Japanese and Ainu began their first disputes which eventually lead into the Koshamain’s Revolt in 1456 when a man named Takeda Nobuhiro killed the Ainu leader Koshmain. From the start of the Japanese and Ainu political and social upheaval it took 672 years (June 8th, 2008) to finally come to a decision to formally recognize the Ainu people as indigenous to Japan, which finally gave them the rights to practice their way of life yet again and to hault all discriminatory acts towards their group. The Japanese government stated:

“The government would like to solemnly accept the historical fact that many Ainu were discriminated against and forced into poverty with the advancement of modernization, despite being legally equal to (Japanese) people.”

The origins of the Ainu people were said to have descend from the Jomon people who lived in Japan during the Jomon period (14,500 to 300 BC). So it’s fair to say that through legend and historical data these Ainu people lived in and amongst the Japanese country for tens of thousands of years before the children of the Sun ever arrived.

So simply stated, in the end, you can rightfully say the original settlements and civilizations of Japan were of Ainu descent, and with that, I’d say the change of heart in 2008 by the Japanese is an honorable one to recognize that. You can find more information about the Ainu culture and history by checking these links out:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/09/travel/cnngo-travel-hokkaido-ainu/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_people

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Japanese Food Stuff Hors D'oeuvre
All Blog Posts, Learn Japanese

How to Say Hors d’oeuvre in Japanese

Learn How to Speak Japanese for Yummy FoodsWhat do you say in Japanese if you want to say “hors d’oeurve?”

Dude… I swear I remember this one! It’s.. it’s…. uuuhhh…

I was actually going through Kanji Gold yesterday and I came upon a vocabulary word and it was for “hors d’oeurve”, I thought I had used it enough the first day that I thought I had remembered the word. But as I awoke today I was asked if I’d like some hors d’oeurves, which happened to be some dip, crackers and cheese. Then I thought, “oh man, I just learned how to say that in Japanese yesterday”. So I tried with all my might, yet it didn’t come to the surface, so I had to go through Kanji Gold again and go through the lesson of vocabulary words I was working on. I eventually came to it.

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Now, let me point out, this word is used for Japanese Hors D’ourves mostly, but it’s a good thing to remember as I’ll point out here shortly.

First Snack and First Drink at Izakaya in JapanTsuki-dashi is the word in Japanese for hors d’oeurvre.

突き出しor つきだしin pure hiragana.

Appetizer in Japanese is O-tooshi – お通し – おとおし

Now to go a bit further into this where you actually may see this while in Japan is when you visit a Izakaya (a bar essentially in Japan), they will many times serve you something like this. It’s called O-tooshi Tsuki-Dashi. It means first snack with first drink.

And it can be a dozen different things that they give you.. But be-warned, this o-tooshi tsuki-dashi is actually not free. You can read more about this custom in izakaya by checking this post out here.

In the end though when looking for this vocab word again I found that even by searching the internet I was unable to find this simple word for the Japanese equivalent to this yummy word (through simple how to’s searches), and of course Google translate is just absolutely horrid for most things when it comes to translating Japanese to English. If you’d like to check out my free Japanese resources you can check out this page here. Over the last 15+ years of learning Japanese I’ve run across several different sites and books that can really help when you start studying like your life depends on it. Even though I’ve been studying off and on for 15 years I don’t believe I really gave it much of a go until the last 2 years when I ran into the website Nihongo Master. I strongly suggest looking into Nihongo Master if you want to quickly learn how to read, write and speak REAL Japanese.

Now you know, when someone asks you if you want Hors D’ourves in Japanese, you can certainly say ..”no/iie” 😀

PS: Just a side note, many of the izakaya will not really give you much time to wave it away if you plan on not having tsuki-dashi.

 

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American Schools vs Japanese Schools
All Blog Posts, Etiquette in Japan, Learn Japanese, News in Japan

Japanese Schools VS American Schools

What are the Differences of Japanese Schools and American Schools?What Differences to Expect When Going to School in Japan

Good Japanese Students are Seen Not Heard, American Students are Loud and Opinionated

There are a few things to understand about Japanese Schools and how they relate to American standard schools, and it comes down to the way you are taught, what the teacher expects from you and how you are graded.

In American schools, there is a lot of freedom to expression opinions and to ask questions. In fact, it’s said to be that those who take advantage of this idea are the ones who get the most of out classes in America and get the best grades. Whereas those who go to school in Japan will notice that it’s not as appropriate to ask questions in class, it’s more appropriate to ask questions after class or to ask your friends and classmates instead. It’s more of a virtue to be quiet during class, and by being ‘quiet’ you are seen as a good student in Japan, and with that, your grades can and many times will improve simply based off of that fact alone.

It's possible to learn Japanese while watching your favorite anime

There is no eating or drinking in the class room or sitting on desks in Japan classrooms, whereas in America this custom is beginning to be the normality of going to school. When it comes to studying in Japan be it from 1st grade to University, the teacher will simply write down notes on the blackboard, and you will be responsible for taking down those notes and remembering them. Whereas in America the teachers do not use the blackboard as often and ask questions of the students while teaching. In Japan, it’s not very often you will see a teacher asking questions to their classroom.

When it comes to examinations, American classes rooms will expect you to be able to write down facts, names and history, but not only that but to form your opinion based around it as well. In Japan the notes you took while in class are simply the answers for many examinations, and you simply must just remember the facts. Although these two systems seem very opposite, the formulation of the illegal standards of Common Core in America is quickly leaving American school children behind. At this point although the Japanese system is a bit odd to us westerns, Japan is ranked #2 in schools in education in the world (from 2014) just under South Korea, whereas America was ranked #14.

So either way you want to look at it, Japanese students and the way they teach seem to be working much better then the American standards. No matter what the cultural shock may be, this remains to be a fact. But I often wonder with so much freedom overall given to American students if it creates a different kind of education, more of an opinionated one that could very well be the American spirit of freedom to do what one wishes. If one wishes to become more educated the platforms of doing so are there, as I’m sure it is in Japan if one wishes as well.

If you are interested in going to school in Japan contact us on Facebook and can will help you find a school in the area you’d like to study in. I’d also suggest checking out my free Japanese learning resources here that will help you become more proficient in speaking, reading, writing and understanding Japanese.

So now you know the differences between Japanese Schools and American Schools!

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