lake akan ainu kotan

It's not the living village it sounds like, but it's a nice community of authentic Ainu artisans and some venues of authentic Ainu performance. It's also conveniently located near the Tsuruga hotel on the shopping street. It might not deserve your making a trip especially for it, but it's nice to swing by on the way to Lake Akan. Please note that most shops open after the check-in time of the hotels (i.e. after 3 pm) till around 8 or 9 pm. We were there early and didn't get to see much...

In case the name (Ainu Village) misleads you, there are no Ainu people here, and it is not a village: nobody lives here. It is a street of souvenir shops selling the usual tat, with an Ainu theme. And a couple of tourist restaurants selling 'Ainu food', namely ramen. There is also a one-room museum of Ainu folk artifacts, all unlabelled in any language. A 'dance hall' features Ainu dancing for tourists in the evening, but that's not my thing, so I passed on that.

The show is all about local ainu culture and lasts for about 30 minutes, although I did find it rather slow however it is important that the community is supported in maintaining their culture. Yes it is touristy but then it is all about balancing the needs of visiting tourists while at the same time keeping the culture alive.Shows start at 9.00 after the fire festival and I recommend visiting but don't set your expectations to high and enjoy what is on show.

We had great expectations of visiting an Ainu 'community' or village. That does not really what the Lake Akain Ainu Kotan is. Think of it more as a glimpse into some aspects of Ainu culture, but laden with lots of shops to buy touristy trinkets. That said, there are a few shops along this strip that have some very nice embroidery and carvings. One of them even has a small museum in the basement that has far better Ainu artifacts than what we saw in Sapporo or elsewhere in this Kotan. It is an absolute must to visit if you are in the area, but beware that this is not like the experience you would have visiting an Aboriginal village in Australia or other indigenous cultures elsewhere in the world.

We were told that the show would start around 8 pm. As we made our way to the leatherette in Lake Akan Ainu Kotan, we noticed the row of shophouses, selling local handicrafts and carvings. The climate during early spring was cold, especially in the evening. To keep ourselves warm, we ran and sought shelter in the shops along the way. As I entered one with a preserved black bear, the owner was surprised but sill hospitable. I used my international language - ie- sign language - to tell her that I wanted a picture of the bear...Hahaha! she was really friendly and she agreed to use my camera to snap a shot of me with the bear. Arigato gozaimas - moments of warmth and habitability and I ran off...Our guide gave us an entry ticket to the leatherette, minutes before the show began. The first item was Ainu performers, hitting the drums and signing a native song. The impression we get was that they were invoking spirits for their good harvest. Then there was an older performer, pointing his arrow right and left and yes the singers singing native songs, which does not sound Japanese at all. There was also a performance of musical instrument, a simple contraption which the two performers, a male and a female used their mouth to produce unfamiliar sounds. According to the guide, the whole process was for the wife to communicate with her husband who has gone to search for food in the mountain. The finale came and spectators were invited to dance with the performers and Ainu music.....oink, oink.oink....Having seen better cultural shows, the Ainu performance paled in comparison and simplicity. A check on the internet reveals that only about 25,000 Ainu people are living in this vast piece of land in Hokkaido and beyond. They have little resources and it looks like Japanese authority are just beginning to recognise these people as their own. Three things seem to be popular with the Ainu people - owl, bear and salmon... We could see the carvings in most of the shops here.

In the winter, not many shops were open. Those that were open had heaters and we went in to keep ourselves warm, while admiring the wood carvings. There were wood carvings of bears and owls. Other than the few shops, there was really nothing much to see.

Spend one hour visiting crafts shops--most but not all have the same items. Save yourself for the ones that have interesting hand carved items.

It's actually souvenir shops lining the streets...not what you expect to see in an Ainu Village. Anyway, there are Ainu handicrafts and food being sold at these shops along the street. Visit the Akanko Ainu Theatre nearby if you really want to watch the Ainu traditional dance and Ainu dressed in native clothes and gear.

This place is a collection of around 20 or so touristy shops in a small area. As the Lake Akan resort area is not large in area at all, this place is sort of a place everyone would visit. It's not bad at all, yet simply very touristy. If you are staying here overnight, you simply have to go here as there isn't way too much to do aside from enjoying the onsen inside the hotel and doing a boat ride on the lake.

Ainu Kotan is actually this entire lane of shophouses selling handicrafts and other kinds of souvenirs; the people that run the place are descendants of the indigenous tribe that lived here in the past. It feels more like a shopping street that specialises in Ainu products rather than a village to be honest. I didn’t attend their cultural show, but if you wish to immerse more into the Ainu culture, I suppose that’s worth a shot.

We visited Lake Akan during the Japanese golden week. But when we arrived, the "village" was really quiet. The "village" was really 2 rows of about a dozen souvenir shops selling Ainu carvings and others. There was a tiny Ainu museum at the back. Nothing very much to see really except that we had a great time playing snowball fight as it was a snowy day.

北海道の東、阿寒国立公園内のマリモで有名な阿寒湖のほとり、阿寒湖畔温泉街に民芸品と踊りの里阿寒湖アイヌコタンがあります。 　アイヌコタンでは、阿寒湖アイヌシアター イコロにて、アイヌ古式舞踊をはじめとする舞踊や人形劇・イオマンテの火まつりを上演するとともに、アイヌ生活記念館などがあり、昔からのアイヌの生活や文化を学ぶことができます。　阿寒湖温泉に宿泊していると、夜の公演に合わせてホテルから無料送迎バスがあります。

非常に楽しみにしていました。実際、一番楽しみにしておりましたが、閑散としており、営業中のお店も1-2店舗といったところ。また夏場にでも出直したいところです。

Das Ainu-Dorf ist auf Touristen ausgerichtet. Eigentlich nur Shops mit allerlei Krimskrams, u.a. Schnitzereien, sieht aber alles wenig authentisch aus. Da es bei uns regnete, haben wir die Ainu-Aufführung angeschaut im Theater oberhalb des Ainu-Dorfs. Die Vorführung war interessant, aber auch nicht mehr, da das Ambiente wenig stimmungsvoll war. Trotzdem haben wir den Besuch nicht bereut, am beeindruckendsten war die Maultrommelvorführung. Dauerte insges. ca. 3/4 h.

普段アイヌ民族について触れたことのない人が、アイヌと触れ合える良い場所では？静かな場所ですが、昔の北海道はこういうところだったんだ、と思える場所です。舞踊を建物の中でみました。