On December 15, 2025, the Japan Anthropological Association issued a statement which contains an official apology for the stealing of Ainu human remains for research purposes. The three-page statement, entitled “Statement of the Japanese Anthropological Association regarding Ainu Human remains,” was posted on the Association’s website and states that “We offer our heartfelt apologies to the Ainu people who have suffered deeply” due to unethical research practices, including “grave-robbing.” On that same day, the Association also issued a joint statement with the Japan Archaeological Association and the Japan Cultural Anthropological Association, entitled “Joint Statement by the Presidents of Three Associations regarding Ainu Hate Speech,” in which they disavow “unjust and discriminatory speech and actions” that “misinterpret and distort research findings to argue as if there were academic grounds to deny the Indigenous status of the Ainu people.” AinuToday welcomes these statements as important and necessary and looks forward to concrete action by research associations to provide redress for past wrongdoings, including the prompt repatriation of Ainu remains to their original communities.
The two statements can be read here and here in their original Japanese. A Yahoo News Japan article about the statements can be read here.
Image: Nusasan (altars) and offerings at the Icarpa (memorial ceremony) for repatriated ancestral remains in Atsunai, Urahoro-Cho, August, 2025. Photo by Michael J. Ioannides.
