Interesting culture, the black bear was sometimes their totem.Many spent winters next to hot springs, where they would remain effortlessly warm surrounded by sub zero temperatures.
Overview: "The Ainu (pronounced /ˈainu/, "eye-noo", are an ethnic group indigenous to Japan; Hokkaido, the northern part of Honshu in Northern Japan, the Kuril Islands, much of Sakhalin, and the southernmost third of the Kamchatka peninsula. The word "ainu" means "human" in the Ainu language; Emishi, Ezo or Yezo (蝦夷) are Japanese terms; and Utari, ウタリ, (meaning "countrymen" in Ainu) is now preferred by some members. It is widely accepted amoung scholars that the Ainu are the decendants of the Jomon. There are over 150,000 Ainu today, however the exact figure is not known as many Ainu hide their origins or in many cases are not even aware of them, their parents having kept it from them so as to protect their children from racism." (Wikipedia.)
" The Ainu (ì´n¡) aborigines of Northern Japan are heavily bearded and have thick wavy hair. Their both mix of European and Asian physical traits contrast so sharply from other indigenous peoples of Asia that no one is really sure of their origin. Some theories hold they are of Caucasian descent, others that their distinct features are a result of isolation that allowed them to remain racially unchanged as the rest of the mongoloid races mixed and evolved through a series of migrations. Other theories hold that they are descendants from various Oceania races. The Japanese chronicles "Kojiki" and "Nihonsyoki" refer to them as descendants of an ancient people called Emishi. Today the term Ainu is used to denote the indigenous people of Hokkaido in Japan and Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, in Russia.
Their culture is precariously close to extinction. The language is spoken only by a few elders.
Centuries of oppression, racism, forced assimilation policies, intolerance and discrimination, social and political dominance of the majority ethnic Japanese have contributed heavily to the annihilation of the Ainu culture. Modern socialization and the fear of marginalization has led recent generations to regard their Ainu identity negatively. Many have abandoned the transmission of Ainu customs and traditions." (Thomason.)
The Buddhist temples in Japan possess many valuable manuscripts which have never been catalogued. They just sit in monastic treasure houses, poetry, sutras,geneologies, reiho scrolls of realization. Many who knew about them just never returned from WWII. One of the reasons they remain hidden is because temples understandably do not allow public access. Even those who are monastics have to receive special leave to even enter the storage places.And then much of the written language is so archaic, that few Japanese today can read them, except for scholars.
I am convinced that there is a chronicle somewhere in Japan of a warrior who visited Shambhala and returned,likely in some obscure temple. Japanese people travelled to Tibet very early on.