Hello everyone. I'd like to talk about nationality today. You all and I learned about it in Scott's class and it reminded me the Ainu people. I went to Hokkaido on my school trip when I was a high school student. One of the aim of the school trip was to learn the Ainu people and its culture. After we arrived at Hokkaido, we went to the area where we could study about the Ainu. There were the Ainu people there, but the area was not the place where they live. It was like a museum for visitors who are interested in the Ainu culture. However I could learn many things about the Ainu. Their belief, language, food, clothes, and life style were completely different from ours. The host explained them and it seemed very interesting. Also some of my classmates were invited to join the dance which the Ainu people do for their god. The host was a descendant of the Ainu, but he said the Ainu people no longer live in the Ainu society. But we all enjoyed the time at the area.
I saw the TV program about the Ainu after my school trip and I was surprised at it. They are native nation in Hokkaido, but the situation was changed when people emigrated from Honshu to Hokkaido. The immigrants from Honshu had strong power over Hokkaido and they tried to control Hokkaido. Then some conflicts were happened. After the conflicts, the Ainu could keep only small part of Hokkaido and they were started to be discriminated. They couldn't go to school, so they pretended to be the immigants and hid their identities as the Ainu. Though they were accepted gradually.
I learned about the Ainu and their history through the school trip and the TV program. I know each nationalities has its own characters, but I thought the people from Honshu should have accepted the Ainu at that time. We nearly lost the valuable culture of the Ainu.