Australia returns Ainu remains to Japan after 80 years

May 07, 2023 | News On Japan

May 07, 2023 (Japan Today) - Australia on Saturday returned to Japan four sets of indigenous Ainu remains, more than 80 years since they were sent to the Pacific nation for research purposes.

The Japanese government has been stepping up efforts to bring back the remains of the indigenous ethnic group from Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island, which were collected -- sometimes by excavating tombs -- for studies in anthropology and other fields.

The remains, all skulls, were handed over to representatives of the Japanese government and Ainu-related groups in a ceremony at Melbourne Museum.

Masaru Okawa, who leads the Ainu Association of Hokkaido, told reporters later that he hopes to hold a memorial ceremony for the remains, saying they must have "felt very lonely" after being taken out of Japan for research purposes.

Inquiries by both countries found that researchers sent the remains to Australia between 1911 and 1936, including Yoshikiyo Koganei, an anatomist and anthropologist known for his Ainu studies and for being a professor emeritus at Tokyo Imperial University, which is now the University of Tokyo. ...continue reading

Source: TBS NEWS

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