15 students from the Urespa Project of Sapporo University, Hokkaidō came to Aotearoa in September of 2018 on a trip to look at the current situation of Māori, and how we have managed as the iwi taketake through history. Comparatively, we have been much more fortunate with our situation and relationship with our government, and as a result our language and culture revitalisation efforts have had a more significant impact.

After the Japanese colonised Hokkaidō in the 1800s, they focused on creating policies to eradicate the Aynu, their ancestry, their language, their beliefs and their customs. They were forced to only speak Japanese and abandon their taonga tuku iho. On top of that, the Japanese government have only recognised and acknowledged the Aynu people were in fact an indigenous group and the iwi taketake of Japan in 2008.

There are only around 25,000 Aynu out of an estimated 200,000 who actually know they are Aynu. Out of the 25,000 there are fewer than 10 speakers of their language left. He nui rawa atu te aroha mō rātou ō tātou whanaunga e mate tonu ana i tēnei wā i te tūkino me te whakahāwea nui a te Hapanihi.

On their trip here they visited many Māori organisations like Te Puna Wānanga o Te Whare Wānanga o Ākarana and other Kura ā-Iwi before meeting us at our Kura. We hosted them in Manaakitanga for two days, with Te Rautāwhiri and Te Kiri o Tūī catering for and looking after them. This wānanga was a particularly beneficial one as they taught us a lot, taking us through their adaption of Te Ataarangi. 

The university students took everyone through one of their Aynu language lessons using the Cuisenaire Rods (coloured rākau). We learnt the numbers, the colours, as well as introductions and several other mihi. The uri in turn taught them our own reo, and by the end of the night we were all trying to see who could teach the other group more words and phrases! It was an amazing experience where the only reo being spoken were te reo Māori and te reo Aynu. Everyone learnt so much from each other and our connection with the Aynu world became even deeper.