Ainu

The Ainu are an indigenous people of northern Japan, and Hiroshi Ikeda has been photographing Ainu communities and their members for ten years. Ikeda's parents are both Ainu, but his grandmother is Japanese, a fact which makes both identities essential for him. Working as an Ainu language teacher in the past, he began to feel he did not know enough about the culture itself to pass it on properly, which led him to study as a trainee at the Shiraoi Ainu Museum in Hokkaido. Frequenting the Ainu communities there, Ikeda learned about how they have adapted to live in modern Japan, the discrimination they often face, and the pride that Ainu people have in their traditions and heritage.