Hoppo Minzoku Hakubutsukan (Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples)

Hoppo Minzoku Hakubutsukan (Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples) Review

Hokkaido is the most southerly point of the northern community of the Ainu. This museum's delightful exhibits link indigenous people, such as the Ainu, Inuits, and Sami (or Lapps) in a way that shows surprising community and similarity over wide spaces. Displays compare and contrast the kitchen implements, clothes, and hunting tools of various cultures from northern Japan, the neighboring Russian island of Sakhalin, and the northern parts of America and Eurasia. English-language pamphlets are available. Of particular interest are the on-site videos depicting life in the frozen north (such as dressing children for the outdoors, or building an igloo)—and look for the alienlike fish-skin suit! The museum is 5 km (3 mi)—a 10-minute drive—from JR Abashiri Station on Tento-san. By bus, take the "Shinai kanko Shisetsu Meguri" to the Hoppo Minzoku Hakubutsukan Mae stop.