The Sámi Museum Foundation and the Ainu Culture Foundation Renew Partnership Agreement

This week, the Sámi Museum Siida is hosting a delegation from Upopoy, the National Ainu Museum and Park, in Hokkaido, Japan. During the visit, the Ainu Culture Foundation and the Sámi Museum are renewing their partnership agreement, which aims to promote cultural collaboration between Indigenous peoples, including through museum exhibitions and staff exchanges.

The Sámi Museum has collaborated with Japan’s Indigenous people, the Ainu, since the 1980s. During that time, reciprocal visits were organized between the Ainu Museum in Shiraoi, Hokkaido, and the Sámi Museum in Inari, along with Sámi Radio and the Sámi Delegation. In 1984, the Ainu Folk Museum and the Sámi Museum in Inari signed a declaration of partnership and friendship to advance the “study and preservation of our cultures, histories, and identities.”

This week, the Sámi Museum in Inari is hosting Noriyuki Abe, Senior Deputy Director of Upopoy, Hikaru Jono from the Ainu Culture Foundation, Masahiro Nomoto, Vice President, and Yomaru Yamamichi, a craftsman from the National Ainu Museum and Park, along with interpreter Mio Yachita. The purpose of the visit is to renew the partnership agreement and strengthen collaboration, especially between museum organizations. The visitors will also tour the renewed Sámi Museum and its exhibitions.

The Ainu are an Indigenous people of Japan whose traditional homelands are located on the northern island of Hokkaido, as well as in the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. The Upopoy Center, located on the shore of Lake Poroto in Hokkaido, serves as the national center for the revitalization and development of Ainu culture. In the Ainu language, “Upopoy” means “singing together in a large group.” Upopoy consists of the National Ainu Museum and Park, where Ainu culture is preserved and showcased. The center also includes a Memorial Area with facilities for commemorative ceremonies and the preservation of Ainu ancestral remains that were previously excavated for research purposes from various universities and have since been returned.

More information: Museum director, Taina Máret Pieski, taina.pieski(at)samimuseum.fi,Tel. 050 5351574