Overview

• On July 14, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism handed over 19 Ainu remains and funerary items long held at UPOPOI to Inkarusipe no Kai.
• The Otaru City General Museum also returned one additional ancestor’s remain during the same ceremony.
• University of Tokyo officials issued their first formal apology for past research practices that violated Ainu dignity.
• According to the ministry, this is only the second occasion on which the national government has repatriated indigenous remains to a community organization.
• Inkarusipe no Kai plans to rebury all 20 remains in an Otaru cemetery before the end of July.