Category Archives: Ainu related news

Japanese Radio Exercise in Ainu Language

How many of you know about the Japanese Radio Exercise number1 (This link is the English version)

In general, everybody who grew up in Japan learned this exercise at school. According to the Wikipedia, the current version started in 1951. I had practiced this exercise at least for 12 years at school.

Now, we have the Ainu language version! The narrator of this clip is Kenji Sekine, the translator/supervisor for “Ainu- Indigenous People of Japan” Great job Kenji-san!

The final Ainu sentence of the video is “tanto ka arikiki anro.” It means “Let’s give it our best today” or I could translate it little more casually, “Have a nice day.” Hope you like the exercise!! 

I found the transcription in below from the website of  Foundation for Ainu Culture. 

© Foundation for Ainu Culture
© Foundation for Ainu Culture

#PasstheBrushChallenge

I have something really fun and interesting to share today!

Like everyone around the world, I have been physically isolated and haven’t had any social activities for almost two months because of the novel corona virus. I have found a lot comfort in watching the funny and cool challenges that people are doing on social media.

Among them, I found the Ainu version of #PasstheBrushChallenge.

It’s posted on a Facebook page called moymoye, which means ‘move’ in Ainu.

The women in the video are all look amazing and have nice smiles. I was so happy to find some familiar faces in Hokkaido. I was also really excited to see all the different kinds of beautiful Ainu outfits that came up one after another. The idea to pass on the brush is really awesome!

Here is the video.

The cool music is by OKI, a professional Ainu musician who has released many albums. According to the administrator of moymoye, they said OKI is the one who chose the music. This particular music “DUB ARROW” is an electric arrangement from a traditional song/dance Ku Rimse or Arrow dance.

I researched a bit about the challenge and found it was started by a user on TIKTOK. For over a decade, I have been more interested in citizen media, as opposed to commercial media. I think it’s a good thing when people can easily express themselves and share their message to a mass audience.

You can also find the Mohawk version, Native American version and more by searching hashtag #PasstheBrushChallenge and #MakeupBrushChallenge.