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Akan Akan

Akan town is on the shores of Lake Akan within the Akan National Park in the south-eastern part of Hokkaido, about a two-hour bus ride from Kushiro. The Akan district is one of the last remaining enclaves of the Ainu people—the original inhabitants of Hokkaido, Sakhalin Island, and Kamchatka.

Lake Akan

Here's a great view of Lake Akan from the deck of a boat we took to visit the Marimo Research Station on one of the many islands in the lake.

 

So we took our two-hour bus ride from Kushiro and stayed in a very nice small hotel, with excellent food. In the late afternoon we walked around the Ainu village as you see in the pictures below. In the morning we walked down to another large hotel that had a thermal hot-spring bath and availed ourselves of the very well appointed facilities. The hot-spring bath had a great view across Lake Akan.

This somewhat imposing edifice is in the Akan Ainu village. As you see, the design motifs are radically different from anywhere else in Japan. The owl is a prominent figure in both Ainu culture and in Hokkaido in general.

Ainu Village
Ainu Craftsmen Ainu Village Ainu Village

Ainu Village Hall

This building is a kind of community centre where the Ainu people perform their native music and dances. Dances performed by men are related to hunting, whereas women perform dances that are representations of birds and animals of Hokkaido.

Ainu Village
Ainu Village Ainu Village Ainu Village

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