Exchange

The Ainu were actively involved in exchanges with the many peoples around Hokkaido, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. To the south were Wajin (ethnic Japanese), to the north were the Nivkh and Tungusic peoples such as the Uilta and Ulchi, and to the east were the Itelmen on the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Aleuts on the Aleutian Islands. Ainu culture has been passed down the generations through these exchanges with neighboring peoples in northeast Asia and indigenous peoples from around the world.