In the Aino Home Japan-British Exhibition

Picture postcard showing a view of the Aino village as exhibited at the Japan British exhibition. For the Japan-British exhibition held at White City in 1910, a group of Aino villagers were transported to London as 'living exhibits' employed to demonstrate their way of life in a reconstructed Aino village. The Aino or Ainu are an indigenous community living on Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island. They have encountered racism in Japan because their physical appearance and culture differ from the Japanese norm. In the official daily programme guide to the exhibition the Ainu village is described as the following 'Here these people are seen as they are at home, in native huts brought with them from Japan. They engage in wood-carving, embroidering, and household work. The men have long flowing hair and full beards, and the women are tattooed about the mouth and arms. One of them, a maiden of sixteen, is said to be quite a belle in her own country. Bears, among other curious things, form objects of special devotion, and are carefully tended in pits by each village community'.