The Ainu in Russia are an indigenous people of Siberia located in Sakhalin Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai and Kamchatka Krai.
The Ainu are an indigenous people from the northern region of the Japanese archipelago, particularly Hokkaido.
Although it is believed that the Ainu culture was established around the 12th or 13th century, the first historical materials to mention the Ainu date from around the 15th century. At that time, the Ainu primarily made their livelihood by fishing, hunting and plant gathering, and also traded with people in other areas.
Meanwhile, Ainu men were conscripted to serve in the Russo-Japanese War and World War II, while many others were mobilized to support the war effort. After the end of World War II, as Japan democratized, the Ainu began to campaign to protect their lands and living.
The Ainu share ancestry with northeast Siberians but not with central Siberians. Previous genetic studies of Siberian populations clearly demonstrated genetic differentiation between northeast Siberians and the rest of the Siberian populations (Volodko et al.
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.
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, ...
Russia lost the Russo-Japanese War due to the Japanese superiority in the sea. Japan had naval superiority; they used this military strategy to defeat the Russians even though Japan was considered inferior to Russia.
In the 15th century, the Japanese moved into territories held by various Ainu groups to trade. But conflicts soon erupted, with many battles fought between 1457 and 1789. After the 1789 Battle of Kunasiri-Menasi, the Japanese conquered the Ainu.
There they were seen as an essentially captive market and as a buffer against potential invasions by the Russians to the north. Japanese control of Ainu territory tightened after the Meiji Restoration (1868).
As described earlier, conventionally, the Ainu are considered to be descended from the Hokkaido Jomon people, with little admixture with other populations.
Ainu eyes often lack an epicanthus (slant) or have less prominent ones. Some Ainu also have beetled eyebrows. It is not unusual to see blue or green eyes among them. In comparison, mainstream, mainland (Yayoi) Japanese have brown eyes.
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.
The immediate predecessors of the Ainu, who are the native people of northeastern Japan, occupied the site. Many archeologists consider the Ainu to be the last living descendants of the Jomon people, who lived throughout Japan from as early as 13,000 years ago.
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.
Several thousand years old, the ainu language spoken in northern Japan was dying out due to political pressure from the central government. at the end of the 20th century, this trend was reversed. while ainu's future is still not guaranteed because it isn't taught in schools, the resurgence of interest is undeniable.
“We sincerely apologize for airing an inappropriate and discriminatory expression that deeply hurt the Ainu people,” Kosugi said at the beginning of the meeting. “We're ashamed to say it, but we lacked the understanding that the expression constitutes a direct discrimination against them.”
The two Indigenous Peoples of Japan, the Ainu and the Ryūkyūans (or Okinawans), live on the northernmost and southernmost islands of the country's archipelago.
On June 6, 2008, both the lower and upper houses of the Japanese Diet unanimously adopted a resolution that urged the government to officially recognize the Ainu as an indigenous people.
On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union officially declares war on Japan, pouring more than 1 million Soviet soldiers into Japanese-occupied Manchuria, northeastern China, to take on the 700,000-strong Japanese army.
Thus, by pure diplomacy and only a few thousand troops, the Russians took advantage of Chinese weakness and the strength of the other European powers to annex 350,000 square miles (910,000 km2) of Chinese territory.
Nuclear weapons shocked Japan into surrendering at the end of World War II—except they didn't. Japan surrendered because the Soviet Union entered the war. Japanese leaders said the bomb forced them to surrender because it was less embarrassing to say they had been defeated by a miracle weapon.
The results of the 3-population test show that the Mainland Japanese are indeed a result of admixture between the ancestors of the Ainu (Jomon people) and continental Asians (Yayoi People), with an estimated 18% contribution from the Jomon ancestry.
Currently, the most well-regarded theory is that present-day Japanese are descendants of both the indigenous Jōmon people and the immigrant Yayoi people.
On average, the Okinawans were found to share 80.8% (±11.2 SD) admixture with Japanese and 19.2% (±11.2 SD) admixture with Chinese.