Shigeru Kayano

Shigeru Kayano was a Japanese activist and one of the last native speakers of the indigenous Ainu language. He dedicated his career to preserving the Ainu oral tradition, as well as its folk arts and culture. Kayano wrote nearly 100 books about the Ainu language and culture, including collections of Ainu folktales. He helped found the Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum in 1972, and was the first Ainu to serve in the Diet, the Japanese legislative body. (Photo credit: Japan Times.)