"The Ainu or the Aynu (Ainu: アィヌ, Aynu, Айну; Japanese: アイヌ, romanized: Ainu; Russian: Айны, romanized: Ayny), also known as the Ezo (蝦夷) in historical Japanese texts, are an East Asian ethnic group indigenous to Northern Japan, the original inhabitants of Hokkaido (and formerly North-Eastern Honshū) and some of its nearby Russian territories (Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Khabarovsk Krai and the Kamchatka Peninsula).
Official estimates place the total Ainu population of Japan at 25,000. Unofficial estimates place the total population at 200,000 or higher, as the near-total assimilation of the Ainu into Japanese society has resulted in many individuals of Ainu descent having no knowledge of their ancestry. In 1966 the number of "pure" Ainu was about 300." - (en.wikipedia.org 11.08.2021)
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