Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [472]
Shiraoi’s Poroto Kotan () is a lakeside village of reconstructed traditional Ainu buildings, anchored by the Ainu Museum (; Ainu Minzoku Hakubutsukan; 0144-82-3914; www.ainu-museum.or.jp/english/english.html; admission ¥750; 8.45am-5pm). Museum exhibits are labelled in both Japanese and English, and in the village you might catch demonstrations of Ainu crafts and cultural performances. Frequent tokkyū and kaisoku on the JR Muroran line run between Shiraoi and Sapporo (¥3400, 1 hour) via Noboribetsu (¥350, 20 minutes).
In the village of Nibutani, which is located in the northern outskirts of Biratori village, Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum (; 01457-2-2892; www.ainu-museum-nibutani.org, in Japanese; admission ¥400; 9am-5pm mid-Apr–mid-Nov, 9am-5pm Tue-Sun mid-Nov–mid-Apr, closed mid-Dec–mid-Jan) has arguably better collections and more attractive displays, although most information is in Japanese only. Visitors could easily spend half a day watching documentary videos about Ainu folk crafts, traditional dances, epic songs and traditional ceremonies. Other highlights include a loom for weaving traditional tree-bark cloth and some enormous canoes hewn from entire tree trunks.
Across Nibutani’s main street, amid some traditional huts, the Kayano Shigeru Ainu Memorial Museum (; 01457-2-3215; admission ¥400; 9am-5pm Apr-Nov, by appointment Dec-Mar) houses the private collection of Kayano Shigeru, the first person of Ainu descent to be elected to the Japanese Diet.
A combined ticket for both Nibutani museums costs ¥700. Unfortunately, access to Nibutani is a trial on public transport, though it’s a quick and easy trip by car – Rte 237 runs straight to the town.
Other useful sources of information include the Foundation for the Research & Promotion of Ainu Culture (; 011-271-4171; www.frpac.or.jp/eng/index.html) in Sapporo, the Ainu Culture Centre (; 03-3245-9831) in Tokyo and the Ainu Association of Hokkaidō (; 011-221-0462) in Sapporo.
* * *
KAWAMURA KANETO AINU MEMORIAL MUSEUM
Kaneto Kawamura, an Ainu chief, became a master surveyor and helped to lay the tracks for several of Hokkaidō’s railways. In 1916, after eye problems forced him to retire, he used his accumulated wealth to create the first Ainu museum (51-2461; 11 Kitamonchō; admission ¥500; 8am-6pm Jul & Aug, 9am-5pm Sep-Jun). The ticket office sells a great English-language booklet, Living in the Ainu Moshir by Kawamura Shinrit Eoripak Ainu, the present curator and the son of the museum’s founder. Take bus 24 from bus stop 14 in front of the station to the Ainu Kinenkan-mae stop (¥170, 15 minutes).
BREWERIES
If you want a free tipple, take the 30-minute tour of Otokoyama Sake Brewery & Museum (; 48-1931; www.otokoyama.com/english/index.html; 2-7 Nagayama; 9am-5pm), a legendary brewery that appears in old ukiyoe (wood-block prints) and historic literature. Take either bus 67, 68, 70, 71, 667 or 669 from bus stop 18 in front of the station, and get off at Nagayama 2-jō 6-chōme (¥200, 20 minutes); from there it’s a two-minute walk (look for the large white cube that rests on the roof of the building).
If you want to turn the afternoon into a sake crawl, the Takasago Meiji Sake Brewery (; 23-2251; http://takasagoshuzo.com, in Japanese; 17 Miyashitadōri; 9am-5.30pm Mon-Sat, 9am-5.30pm) has a 30-minute free tour of its own. From January to March it also has an aisudōmu, a sake-filled ice dome where you can warm up with a drink. Take bus 1, 3 or 17 from bus stop 17 in front of the station to 1-jō 18-chōme (¥150, 10 minutes) It’s a large white-washed building with a cedar ball hanging outside the door.
Even if you don’t speak Japanese, English pamphlets and friendly staff help make both tours worthwhile.
ASAHIYAMA ZOO
The country’s northernmost zoo (36-1104; http://www5.city.asahikawa.hokkaido.jp/asahiyamazoo/zoo/English/top.html; Kuranuma; admission ¥800; 9.30am-5.15pm May-Oct, 10.30am-3.30pm Nov-Apr) attracts even more visitors than Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo. As you might