Appointment of New Director of the National Ainu Museum

The National Ainu Museum, operated by the Foundation for Ainu Culture in Sapporo, Japan (President: Prof. Dr. Teruki Tsunemoto), is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Masahiro Nomoto as the new Executive Director, effective July 1, 2025.

He is the second executive director and the first indigenous Ainu executive director. Mr. Nomoto will continue in his previous position as Deputy Executive Director of the UPOPOY National Ainu Museum and Park, where he is in charge of indigenous cultural programs.

The first Executive Director, Prof. Dr. Shiro Sasaki, has since been appointed Honorary Director.

Masahiro Nomoto Biography

Mr. Nomoto was born in March 1963 in Shiraoi, Hokkaido, Japan.

He has worked at the Porotokotan (formerly the Ainu Museum) since 1985. The Porotokotan was established and operated by the local Ainu of Shiraoi and laid the foundation for transmitting Ainu culture and developing cultural bearers. Mr. Nomoto worked as the head of the curatorial department here before being appointed Executive Director and Executive Board member of the former museum in 2012.

Since 2012, he has been involved in conceptualizing the National Ainu Museum as a committee member. He was later appointed Director of the Cultural Promotion and Exchange Department of the UPOPOY National Ainu Museum and Park (the Foundation for Ainu Culture). After the institution’s opening, he resumed his position as Deputy Executive Director of the UPOPOY National Ainu Museum and Park in 2023. He has also been a member of the Executive Board of the Foundation.

In addition to his official position, Mr. Nomoto has been invited to serve as an expert on the planning and production of Ainu cultural exhibitions in Japan and abroad, in which he has crafted some of the artifacts himself. A notable example includes his participation in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s special exhibition, “AINU: Spirit of a Northern People” (1999). Today, the Ainu trading ship itaomacip, is on permanent display in the museum’s North Pacific Peoples’Culture and Exchange section.

 Mr. Nomoto is fondly known as retanrek, an Ainu nickname (ponre) used in UPOPOY.