“The Ainu (アイヌ?), also called Aynu, Aino (アイノ), and in historical texts Ezo (蝦夷), are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin. Most of those who identify themselves as Ainu still live in this same region, though the exact number of living Ainu is unknown. This is due to ethnic issues in Japan resulting in those with Ainu backgrounds hiding their identities and confusion over mixed heritages. In Japan, because of intermarriage over many years with Japanese, the concept of a 'pure Ainu' ethnic group is no longer feasible. Official estimates of the population are of around 25,000, while the unofficial number is upwards of 200,000 people”. – Wkipedia

Photo: A captive bear drinking from a large bottle held by an Ainu tribeswoman. (Photo by Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955

Two styles of cleaned bird's nest, Yan Zhan (L) and Su Zhan (R) await repacking at a processing plant in Kuala Lumpur, February 17, 2015. Prized in China for is alleged health benefits for hundreds of years, nests made from swiftlets' saliva are being mixed into coffee and cereal as the Southeast Asian producers of the delicacy seek to broaden its appeal, and their profit margins. The nests are among the world's most expensive foods, selling for up to $2,500 a kg and the swiftlets that weave them are indigenous to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. (Photo by Olivia Harris/Reuters)

A porter stands at the bottom of the Illimani mountain, on the outskirts of La Paz, Bolivia, April 16, 2016. For years, Lydia Huayllas, 48, has worked as a cook at base camps and mountain-climbing refuges on the steep, glacial slopes of Huayna Potosi, a 19,974-foot (6,088-meter) Andean peak outside of La Paz, Bolivia. But two years ago, she and 10 other Aymara indigenous women, ages 42 to 50, who also worked as porters and cooks for mountaineers, put on crampons – spikes fixed to a boot for climbing – under their wide traditional skirts and started to do their own climbing. (Photo by David Mercado/Reuters)

A woman poses for her husband alongside a giant camera Thursday, November 7, 2013 outside the Historic Green County Courthouse in Monroe, Wis. Chicago photographer Dennis Manarchy created what's being called the world's largest camera. It's 35-feet long and 12-feet tall it's a working replica of a vintage accordion-style camera that produces 16- by 24-foot prints, the equivalent of a two-story building. The giant camera is on display in Monroe through November 17 because a Monroe company manufactured the specially-built trailer. Manarchy plans to tow the camera around the country to shoot photos of indigenous cultures. (Photo by Mark Hoffman)

Kambeba Indian, Dream Braga, 18, aims his arrow in a jungle near the village Tres Unidos, Amazon state May 9, 2015. Dream Braga has been shooting fish with a bow and arrow for most of his life. In the Amazonian village where he grew up, that was what kids did for food and fun. He participated in the Indigenous Archery Project which recruits Amazon native children to compete with modern archery equipment and try for a place on the national team, with the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro as their ultimate goal. After training with Olympic coaches for three months, he has now been promoted to Brazil's national team. (Photo by Bruno Kelly/Reuters)

(L-R) American media personality and socialite Kylie Jenner and American model and television personality Gigi Hadid attend the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 12, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Stefanie Keenan/VF23/WireImage for Vanity Fair)

An Israeli soldier leaves the battlefield after an army exercise on at the Shizafon army base, in the Negev Desert north of the southern city of Eilat on January 31, 2012 in Shizafon, Israel. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Lightning illuminates a thundercloud as a storm front hits the North Sea region near Westerhever, northern Germany, on August 11, 2014. (Photo by Daniel Reinhardt/AFP Photo/DPA)