There needs to be more content like this on Hokkaido. Kudos for spreading understanding about an aspect of Japanese and Ainu history that (correct me if I’m wrong) is not commonly known in the English-speaking world.

Great content! I lived in Kagoshima for 5 years, but never visited our northern neighbors. Now I need to get back. Thanks!

@UnseenJapan

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for letting us know! Hokkaido is a wonderful place to visit; highly recommended. Also, Noah actually wrote a fair bit about Kagoshima in his recent three-part series on Saigo Takamori for our website. Seems like another fascinating place to explore.

Visiting Lake Akan years ago I was struck by the parallels with New Zealand, which was colonized at almost the same time in the mid 19th century, and with similar tensions since then between whether to assimilate and suppress or celebrate the indigenous local culture. Also couldn’t help but see the similarities with Maori culture (as Perry saw with Native Americans I’m sure). And not such a weird thing. Polynesians have been traced to the indigenous people of Taiwan. Quite possible that Ainu, Native Americans, and Polynesians have common ancient north Asian ancestors. Anyway, loved and appreciated this deep dive into the history of Hokkaido. Thank you!

@1Ma9iN8tive

3 жыл бұрын

Polynesian ancestors of today’s māori cultures began arriving in what was then known as Hawaikitautau between 2,000 to 1500 years ago. At the early arrival of Kupe the islands were named Aotearoa - lands of the long white clouds. From 1405 until 1433, the Chinese imperial eunuch Zheng He led seven ocean expeditions for the Ming emperor that are unmatched in world history. Anecdotal data suggests he had knowledge of the islands of the South Pacific that would become known as New Zealand in the 17th century. Abel Tasman arrived in 1642. It was Abel Tasman who gave the name now rendered in English as New Zealand. His men were the first Europeans to have a confirmed encounter with Māori. The expedition departed from the company's base at Batavia (Jakarta) in August 1642. After sailing west to Mauritius they turned south before being forced back by the cold to the 45th parallel. Continuing eastwards they sighted the mountains of a land that Tasman named Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) after the governor general of Batavia. They continued east on 4 December and sighted the west coast of the South Island on the 13th. They anchored at Wharewharangi Bay, near Wainui Inlet to the north of what is now Abel Tasman National Park, on 18 December. The initial meeting between European and Maori was tense but peaceful. The following day, though, the Dutch had a violent encounter with local Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri. Tasman named the place Moordenaers (Murderers) Bay before sailing east to the Manawatu coast of the North Island. Shortly afterwards they sheltered from a storm east of Stephens and D'Urville islands and celebrated the first Christmas dinner in New Zealand. The Dutch continued up the west coast of the North Island reaching Cape Maria Van Diemen (named after van Diemen's wife) on 4 January 1643. In need of fresh water, they investigated Great Island in the Three Kings group on the 5th but were put off by a heavy surf and rocky shore - not to mention up to 35 inhabitants who shouted ‘with rough loud voice’ and threw stones from the cliff-tops. Sailing a north-east course, the expedition arrived in Tonga on 21 January. After obtaining ample supplies of food and water they sailed on, sighting but not landing in the northern islands of Fiji. After turning west the expedition reached New Guinea in April before returning to Batavia on 15 June 1643. Lieutenant James Cook captained the Endeavour and was brought to New Zealand by Tahitian navigator Tūpaia - they arrived on the 8th of October 1769. This initiated the intensification of European settlement and colonisation to the modern era. New Zealand’s history is marked by English Imperialism, the racist doctrine of discovery, colonisation, deceit, and military invasion supported by political duplicity, educational assimilation, hegemony and institutional inequality. Despite late 19th century expectations for racial genocide to spell the end of the Māori culture the opposite has occurred. Poverty, inequality and racism still mark New Zealand’s race relations. But ... and poignantly - Māori have survived, our language (though endangered) is still strong and growing slowly ... our population growing. We enjoy several conferences with our Ainu relatives sharing in collaborative cultural restoration strategies and language revival aspirations with a diverse range of indigenous cultures sharing similar cu;trial historical contexts. While covid gas slowed the world down - technology keeps us connected.

Really good video! The anime/manga Golden Kamuy focuses on Hokkaido after the Russo-Japanese War and have a lot of Ainu representation, if someone is interested in the culture, watch it.

@noahoskow4551

3 жыл бұрын

Embarrassed to say that I still haven't watched Golden Kamuy, especially since it's one of the few anime to feature Sakhalin - which was just recently the topic of my MA thesis. Should finally have time to watch it soon, which I'm looking forward to.

I have Pokémon on the mind with the Sinnoh region being based on Hokkaido & Hishui being based on Ezo from Feudal Japan especially with Pokémon Legends Arceus. This video made me want to learn about the real Japan and how it inspired some of the regions in Pokémon.

@123goldenlily

Жыл бұрын

Playing through Legends Arceus right now. I’m kind of hoping that the Galaxy Team turns out to be evil and I betray them, considering the history the setting + story is based on. I don’t have that much hope but idk. I’ve just gotten to the Crimson Mirelands so I can still dream lol

That's some impressive content. Really thorough historical survey and great visuals. I'm particularly amazed by the early footage of the Ainu you've included.

What a wonderfully well produced and succinct program. You crammed an awful lot into 35 mins! My first experience of Japan was a homestay in Hokkaido so I have a soft spot for the island. Looking forward to seeing more of your films. Thanks!

Video, script and narration all by Noah Oskow, truly otsukare sama deshita. You've inspired me to toss up something of my own in a similar format for having seen this. :) I first studied about the Ainu (Burakumin, Ryuukyuu, etc) back in 2003 and for the past 17 years, have been deeply fascinated by their hidden history, so much so, I was honoured to meet a lady who identifies as Ainu and strives to teach Japanese people and revive her culture back in Jan 2020. Current pandemic means I can't follow up with her circle yet, but will definitely share this video to them in the future. Just some pointers. If you ever do a 'version 2' of the same video, definitely split it into two parts or make it an hour long. There's so much history to summarise, (400 years) together with 109348 new names, that to: 1. hear it (at times see it thanks to your captions) 2. process it together with the timeline of the story is near impossible with the current speed of the narration, plus the zero time between chapters of the story. It's quite simply, too fast. Much longer pauses are needed between major turning points of the story, so our brains have a moment to process what we've just heard in a relaxed state. Even if this was a lecture spoken at the same speed, you'd lose most of us to feeling rushed and overwhelmed. Yes, it's a video meaning I can rewatch it, but as amazingly informative as it is and for all your hard work in making it, it'd be awesome if we grasp most of it at the first watch and come out feeling inspired, educated and interested instead of rushed and dazed. I truly love the images and footage you got (which I may very well contact you about, it's golddust!), so once again thank you for putting this together. What's the best way to contact you? Ainu were denied to appear in the Olympic opening ceremony. If it's happening next year, we all need to kick up a fuss to get them on the global map as they rightly deserve to be. This video is a good start.

@UnseenJapan

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your insightful commentary and suggestions, Reina. We're glad to do our part in spreading the story of the Ainu and Hokkaido. We'll pass on the message to Noah!

@EnreiReina

4 жыл бұрын

@@UnseenJapan Oh I see. Unseen Japan and Noah are separate entities (as in he isn't the creator or founder of this organisation.) He just put the video together independently? To follow up, would I have to go through unseen Japan as an organisation first?

@noahoskow4551

4 жыл бұрын

Hey Reina, really appreciate the commentary! Glad to hear from someone who cares so much about the often-overlooked subalterns of Japanese history and modern society. I agree that it's all a lot of information, sadly a product of this video essentially being a direct adaptation of my original article. I'll work to get subtitles on to make it easier to follow along with, and I'll probably start adapting my writings more loosely for future videos to better fit the format. Appreciate the critique! I was extremely lucky to get access to such beautiful footage -- it was thanks to two Hokkaido-based videographers who appreciated the mission of the video (spreading information about Hokkaido history in English). If you want to message me directly you can find a link to my twitter profile in the video description! Thanks again for your comment! -Noah

@newq

3 жыл бұрын

I'm interested in the Olympic thing. Hopefully delaying the games will bring the small silver lining of getting the Ainu the recognition they deserve during the ceremony.

@UnseenJapan

3 жыл бұрын

Would be really wonderful if that would end up happening - but honestly, the Olympics occurring at all at this point is very much up in the air. Either way, any Japanese olympics that strives to truly showcase the varied reality of Japan needs both Ainu and Ryukyuans.

Wow this is so interesting, I'm living on Hokkaido for 5 years now, and getting more interested in the history of it. Then I found this video. Great job 👍!!

wow im ainu mixed and this is just..so amazing. I appreciate this so much. I hope ainu come back!

Fascinating video! I recently saw an exhibit at the Portland Japanese Garden that displayed Ainu artwork and sculpture alongside works from Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest, which was meant to showcase how similar both the art styles and their historical stories were. I would love to visit Hokkaido someday. Looking forward to more of your work!

@UnseenJapan

4 жыл бұрын

Very interesting! Would love to have seen that exhibit. Hope you do manage to get to Hokkaido some day -- it's worth it!

Great video. I am so interested in Hokkaido, but theres so little info on it. Coming from a country with similar history with it's natives (sami people being supressed, having their culture and language taken away), its so interesting to see how the Yamato did it differently etc. I'd really want to move to Hokkaido one day, since living in Tokyo is torture every day 😢 The nature and history seems so rich and vibrant

An excellent video about a fascinating topic. Plus, if I'm not mistaken, its soundtrack included both the "March of the Siberian Riflemen" and "Old Maui". Perfection!

I randomly decided one day I wanted to go to Hokkaido some day. After making that decision I looked into it, and I found out it's a fascinating place. Turns out my favorite Pokemon region (Sinnoh) is also based on it. The Ainu are a fascinating people, and I seriously hope their language and culture can recover. If my Japanese ever gets good enough to read the language resources, I'd like to learn Ainu myself one day. I will be going to Hokkaido in June, and I am greatly looking forward to it! I will be visiting the Ainu museum in Shiraoi.

fantastic video. Honestly, this sort of production quality is what you'd expect to see on Discovery/NatGeo. Subbed!

This is the best, and most balanced, documentary of this event Thanks for sharing!

Great video, thank you.

Enjoyed that, thank you!

That doc is pretty great! And the voice, effects, and editing are top-notch. It's weird how it has so few views.

@UnseenJapan

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! We're getting more views, slowly but surely - appreciate the viewership!

A great video, about a great island. I hope I will be able to travel to this far away land one day, before dying. Hokkaido's history deserves a lot of films, novels and mangas, it is like the Albion of the far east ! ^^

@UnseenJapan

3 жыл бұрын

Hokkaido is indeed wonderful! Hope you can get there one day.

This was a really interesting video thank you for sharing!

@UnseenJapan

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching, and glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you for all of your work!

@UnseenJapan

4 жыл бұрын

Glad to be of service!

Hope to visit Hokkaido one day!

@UnseenJapan

4 жыл бұрын

You should! It's a wonderful place.

Interesting stuff. The Ryukyuan Kingdom suffered a similar fate and oddly enough the natives of the islands even share genetic similarities to the Ainu. In some ways being more related to each other than to Japanese. An odd parallel in history.

@nehcooahnait7827

2 жыл бұрын

That is not true.

@catphuckers

Жыл бұрын

I think the Ryukyuan people are a Japonic people, unrelated to the Ainu.

Thank you for the great video. Great watch.

Very Good Videos! Keep up the good content!

I know that the whole point is to present a Japan that's not portrayed in anime, but what brought me into contact with the Ainu people, their culture and Hokkaido, was an anime called Golden Kamuy lol. Nonetheless, I'm glad that throught that show, I was able to find this channel and this video! I learned a lot, thank you!

i used this for an arts history essay on colonisation - thank you for all of the great info !

@UnseenJapan

3 жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

@noseriouslyimserious4073

2 жыл бұрын

Lmao so kids are doing projects on "colonization" in ART HISTORY, now? Lmao. Lovely.

@NounOzlos

2 жыл бұрын

@@noseriouslyimserious4073 wow, almost like colonization was a massive, long-lasting historical project that affected almost every region of the earth and, thus, would also affect art - something which, it turns out, doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Incredible.

Good stuff, impressed.

@UnseenJapan

4 жыл бұрын

Glad you appreciated it!

Thank you very much. Beatiful story of the Ainu. Hard to find content and detail.

pretty amazing. thank you!

One of my favorite topics is native/indigenous cultures, and I loved your video on the Ryukyuans too. I wish these videos were on KZread years ago. I had friends and a boyfriend who were Japanese language majors (I wasn't, but I liked dabbling in Japan-related topics, even until today). This is the kind of material that stood out to me. Now reflecting on their curriculum, it seems as though it didn't really go over history like this, and it honestly should.

Fantastic video, and your essays on Sakhalin are on the reading list.

Awesome video

Great work. Thx

23:00 Always appreciate Stan Rogers.

Character "道" generally means road or path. But in case of Hokkaido(北海道) it's from administrative division borrowed from Tang dynasty. Maybe they thought it was too big to be a ken(県).

Your channel is so underrated

Thanks you for the amazing documentary.. I had been in Hokkaido is a stunning land

Here to study for Pokemon Legends: Arceus

Fantastic video. I was always struck by the much more organized nature of Hokkaido infrastructure, but I had never been to the Matsumae area. Maybe that part is a bit more organic like Honshu due to its age?

@UnseenJapan

4 жыл бұрын

Really glad you enjoyed it! Hokkaido does feel very different from the rest of Japan when visiting -- so few structures date from before the Kaitakushi (settlement agency) days at the earliest. I've never been to Matsumae either, but Hakodate at least does have some impressive historical structures -- the huge Goryokaku fort in particular.

@noahoskow4551

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Erik, really appreciate you saying so! Hokkaido does have a very different vibe to its cities than, say, Yamagata ;)

Viva Ezo Republic. I lived right next to Gōryōkaku Koen in Hakodate then Sapporo and Asahikawa, I love Hokkaido and it's history. thx for the content man. I diggit, grande. Kyoto, spent 3 weeks and barely scratched the surface, Paris, Rome, London NYC, pretty much saw everything in 2 weeks each. I dunno, maybe I'm more interested in Japanese history so it's a totally biased opinion. When I was in Hokkaido the Bōsōzoku were running wild and I had a few gnar gnar run ins, but quickly became friends, to this day. The real "fast and furious" where cops chasing them soon becomes them chasing cops, hanging out the window beating on cop cars w/ bats. Traffic cops and "real" cops are two different things in Japan, at least they were back then. Quite a scene to behold. My wildling days.

Cool video. You should upload this in 1080p. Okinawa is also considered a main island (the 5th main island). The Yayoi came to Japan from the East Asian continent via the Korean peninsula. Hokkaido started to be incorporated into the rest of Japan since the Matsumae clan. Toyotomi Hideyoshi granted the area around Matsumae, Hokkaido as a march fief to the clan since 1590. Before that it was partially explored and colonized by Japanese. The Ainu are almost extinct, but they're making a big museum about them.

@UnseenJapan

4 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it! We actually have an article on our site about the history of the Ryukyu people of Okinawa, whose colonization echoes that of the Ainu in many ways. Would be great to eventually make a video a video about their history as well - their story is one that deserves to be told more often.

What is the name of the violin musical piece that played during your credits? Please I must know

@noahoskow4551

3 жыл бұрын

It's "Righteous Soul," the ending theme from the PS2 game Way of the Samurai! Been really into that soundtrack since I was in high school.

Watching from Dunedin, South Island of Aotearoa, where Otaru is one of our sister cities.

Very well done. Thank you!

Very good, however you could’ve also spoken about how the Ainu once almost established a sort of micro-empire spanning from Hokkaido to the mouth of the Amur River before their fall to the mongols.

@noahoskow4551

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you, and true! I would've liked to have been able to go a bit into the Santan trade and the Ainu conflict with the Nivkh and their Mongol allies in the Yuan dynasty, but it was a bit beyond the Hokkaido-focused scope (and the video is already pretty long, ha). I'm doing some more writing on the Ainu at the moment (specifically in regards to Sakhalin) so I'll be going deeper into the topic soon.

this channel is about to be big

@NounOzlos

4 жыл бұрын

Here's hoping!

@UnseenJapan

4 жыл бұрын

Appreciate the vote of confidence!

@igbotimehopper64yearsago46

4 жыл бұрын

@@UnseenJapan I believe in you

@igbotimehopper64yearsago46

4 жыл бұрын

@@UnseenJapan and could you do a video on how Japan. Aquired the small island to there South

@UnseenJapan

4 жыл бұрын

We'll definitely get around to discussing Okinawa - likely in a video similar to this one!

So sad all the suffering of the ainu, i hope today can be made justice for them.

@UnseenJapan

3 жыл бұрын

The Ainu are finally being recognized as indigenous by the Japanese government, and the Hokkaido prefectural government is putting a lot of work into including more information on them in school textbooks, so there is some positive movement happening right now (although some Ainu activists say they should be more directly involved).

@juandiegocorton9778

3 жыл бұрын

@@UnseenJapan good to know. That old videos that you showed us were very interesting. Where did you found them?

@UnseenJapan

3 жыл бұрын

The archival video footage of the Ainu comes from the 1935 documentary "Iyomande: the Ainu Bear Festival" directed by Kindaiichi Kyosuke. If you'd like to see the entire documentary, it's been uploaded to KZread! It's very much worth a watch.

@juandiegocorton9778

3 жыл бұрын

@@UnseenJapan thank you very much, you really made a nice investigation. Keep with the great work👍👍👏👏

Hi. Somehow I stumble upon your video today and I am very impressed with the content, the quality of the video and your great voice. I'm from Hokkaido and visited Hakodate many times. It is truly an exotic and romantic town full of history. Isn't it interesting that Matthew Perry was Rothchild family by marriage. Before his arrival, Russian government approached Japan and politely asked to open the door and they were turned down. I subscribed and will watch more of your work. You know more about Ainu than I do. Thank you for your interest in Japan and doing such a detailed work.

I fucking hate this website, celebrities who do absolutely nothing get millions of views while good, hard-working creators like you get only a crumb of the pie.

I hear it gets very cold in Hokkaido in winter. Is the climate like Alaska or Europe?

@UnseenJapan

3 жыл бұрын

It does get quite cold - Hokkaido has the coldest climate in Japan, as befits its northern location. It's still pretty southern compared to Alaska, though, and its winters are probably a bit more comparable to northern Germany or Minnesota.

There's an anime called golden kamuy that covers the anui people and hokkaido

History of Hokkaido had started since 35-30,000 years ago, not by mammoth hunters but by Sojin (proto-Japanese before Jomon), who had migrated from south Japan, Kyusyu. People are called according to its period, Sojin-Jomon-Satsumon, then Ainu originally from north, Sahalin, since 13th century. Sojin is now paid attention to its probability of participation in the First Americans' migrating wave.

Wow they sure took their time in colonization

how did the old ainu language work? before katakana was intruduced to them by the yamato people?

@UnseenJapan

2 жыл бұрын

Ainu, like many languages worldwide, doesn't have it's own indigenous writing system. Stories, folklore, and histories were instead memorized and recited at gatherings, often in the form of Yukar - heroic sagas. These days Ainu can be written in either Roman characters or in a specialized version of katakana, like you mentioned. If you want to learn a bit more about Yukar, we actually have a new essay on our main website about Ainu translator Chiri Yukie, who was the first person to transcribe Yukar en mass into Japanese.

@olhala5644

2 жыл бұрын

@@UnseenJapan Thanks for the reply, soo ainu just worked as gibbirish that was told in gatherings before the yamato influence on the language?

@UnseenJapan

2 жыл бұрын

Ainu was a fully-functioning language used for everyday life and society for at least hundreds of years before major Yamato incursions into Ainu lands. It just didn't have a writing system, something which isn't historically uncommon for languages.

@olhala5644

2 жыл бұрын

@@UnseenJapan oh that makes sense, thanks

I’ve heard that “Ainu” is an endonym and not an exonym, yet I can’t find anything credible on the topic. Are you sure that “Ainu” is actually an exonym meaning “barbarian”, rather than an endonym that was given the meaning “barbarian” in Japanese?

@38-jishjilson89

2 жыл бұрын

The word Ainu means "human" in Ainu. Some modern Ainu prefer to be called 'Utari' (comrade) though.

Yamotos have more attention then Ainu's do

@cherryswachan

3 жыл бұрын

what does that mean?

@nehcooahnait7827

2 жыл бұрын

Many people don’t even know what Yamato means lol. Some Japanese people probably thought Yamato is some spaceship from sci-fi movies

Koshamain's War, around the time of the fall of Constantinople

So are they still genetically identical to east asian, but only retained their ancient physical features? This is so fascinating.

@gustavju4686

2 жыл бұрын

Some studies have found commonalities between them and native Americans.

Aynu Mosir an.

There is a Japanese movie entitled Kita no Zeronen or Year One in the North with English subtitles about the first colonists in Hokkaido. Many Japanese movies have been made there; many available online with subtitles. The Ainu, a long suppressed and reviled minority has long desired a US style reservation to separate them as much as possible from the racist dominate culture. Current niceties from the Japanese are for publicity only.

which anime is this ?

@UnseenJapan

4 жыл бұрын

The unreleased original version of Horus, Prince of the Sun, clearly.

28:00 "The Republic of Shrimp Barbarians"😅

Dependence of indigenous peoples on imported goods only develops as a result of colonialism's destruction of traditional lifeways.

We'll see about "irrevocably Japanese"

Watching a lot of the footage, it strikes me that TPC did do their research to make Legends Arceus. It's just. it also unfortunately muddles the waters of how I feel about the game, given my usual anti colonialist stances wrt real world things. Yeah it's fiction, but as the tweet that guided me here said, it's also a sanitized version of what happened irl. I also have similar issues with Alola, despite how much I love Pokemon Sun and Moon, though that's less of a colonial narrative.

@dariusgreysun

Жыл бұрын

🙄

the background music is too overpowering hard to hear what you are trying to say

@UnseenJapan

Жыл бұрын

Please feel free to switch on the English subtitles.

Free Hokkaido

One of the times I'll say they would have been better off with the Russians.

Consider getting a professional voice over. Great stuff.

@noahoskow4551

4 жыл бұрын

I actually do my fair share of professional voice work, but I appreciate your input :) I'll try to continue to improve my narration skills. And I'm glad you enjoyed it!

25:52 investing in farming to help cater to foreign semen.

Hokkaido needs to be freed from Japan and becomes independent. Even Okinawa has been occupied by Japan. Freedom and independence for Okinawa .

No KZread creater likes to hear criticism, so, no offense intended. Your videos are great, but maybe you can try a more sturdy use of voice.

I should never call Colonization of Japan .

Wellcome to Unseen japan the japan you don't learn in anime Me: ok lets see *sees video* uhm... this has been seen in anime... in a whole bunch of them actually pretty accurately too... hell a lot of this video could have been cut since there is a lot of filler and you even ommited quite a few facts to make the japanese look like some sort of evil villians when there was more nuance to the whole thing

@NounOzlos

4 жыл бұрын

Lol, please tell me about the "whole bunch" of anime that have accurately portrayed the colonization of Hokkaido and the subjugation of the Ainu lands without saying the single obvious entry, Golden Kamuy. Would also love to hear your additional nuance or about the facts omitted.

@UnseenJapan

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your input! Please direct us to which part of Hokkaido history you consider "filler."

@TheGameDomeGuy

4 жыл бұрын

@@NounOzlos see golden kamui you smug jerk

@TheGameDomeGuy

4 жыл бұрын

@@UnseenJapan none of it is filler just that lots of the stuff you say is filler that has nothing to do with the topic

@NounOzlos

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheGameDomeGuy Lol did you not see that I literally wrote "without saying the single obvious entry, Golden Kamuy?" So not only were you completely unable to answer the question, you also took an entire month to do so. Sorry if I don't mark you as an expert on the Ainu or Hokkaido history, or see you as anything other than someone trying to somehow "defend" anime or Japan from historical fact (pro tip: it's ok to like anime without falling into the trap of thinking it's a great source to learn all your history from).