About the Author and Team

The primary author, Nina Langton, is living and working as an uninvited guest on the traditional and unceded Syilx Okanagan territory in what is now known as British Columbia, Canada. She has a Master’s Degree in Contemporary Japanese Literature and is currently teaching Japanese language and culture courses at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. During her undergraduate studies, she was fortunate to spend a year living and working in Hokkaidō, where she was first introduced to the Ainu culture.

Mayu Takasaki is a Lecturer in Japanese Studies at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. She received her Master’s in Japanese Linguistics from the University of Toronto and previously taught at Queen’s University. Her current research interests include Japanese food culture.

Saki Irie was born in Japan and moved to British Columbia when she was 12 years old. She fell in love with Canadian nature and the people, and decided to stay for her university studies. She graduated from UBC Okanagan with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts in 2022 and is now working in West Kelowna.

Ryō Takada is majoring in marketing at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. He is from Chiba, and is currently living in Tokyo, Japan, but studied abroad at UBC in Canada as an exchange student for almost one year in 2021-22.

Victoria Stedman is a Biology major at UBC Okanagan. Victoria was born and raised in Kakogawa City in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. She moved to Canada in 2021 to pursue her studies at UBCO.

Dr. Kanako Uzawa is a Hokkaidō-born Ainu activist, artist and scholar. Her Ph.D. dissertation focused on urban Ainu. She is currently living in Norway and undertaking curatorial work while continuing to publish on Ainu issues and pursue her artistic endeavours.