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It is important to note that there are between 20,000 and 60,000 Ainu people living in Japan today. Forced assimilation to Japanese culture in the early 20th century, however, has made many of the traditional lifeways of the Ainu people disappear. Practices such as iyomante, speaking the Ainu language, the religious use of the inau, and the weaving of elm fiber have largely vanished and are only now being rediscovered by contemporary Ainu. For clarity, the cultural practices and beliefs discussed in these commentaries are presented in the past tense, although some of them are practiced today. |