The Natural History Museum in London has formally returned seven ancestral remans to Japan as part of a ceremony this week. The museum hosted the Japan Government’s Minister for Ainu-related Policies and representatives from the Ainu Association of Hokkaido.
Late in 2025 , it was announced that five sets of Ainu ancestors' remains were to be repatriated to Japan from the Natural History Museum in London. This follows repatriations in 2017 (Germany), 2023 (Australia) and 2025 (Scotland). Inside Japan, the University of Tokyo has apologised to the Ainu community for collecting ancestral remains without their consent. The Japanese government, working with the Ainu Association of Hokkaido, supports the repatriations. How can this increase be explained?
In April 2026, officials from the Japanese government and the Ainu Association of Hokkaido will travel to Britain to receive four of the five sets of remains, the government said Friday. The locations where the four sets were excavated are known.
“The university regards these historical facts with the utmost gravity, reflects on them with sincere remorse, and hereby expresses our heartfelt apologies.” A process of repatriation has started.
The international seminar Critical Studies on Provenance, History, and Cultural Heritage focused on the role of provenance research in cultural heritage and repatriation efforts. Organized with several Indonesian universities and professional associations, the event highlighted how tracing the origin of cultural artifacts is essential for repatriation claims—particularly in light of Dutch colonial history and recent returns of Indonesian objects.
This working paper offers an inventory of missionary orders and societies active in German colonial regions in Africa and Asia, the information available about them and the options for further research.
Remains taken by Japanese researchers from a tomb in Okinawa Prefecture in the early 20th century have been returned, sources said Thursday. + comment Nathan Sydenham
According to the Japanese government, the remains of three Ainu Indigenous people that were kept at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland will be returned.
At a formal repatriation ceremony at the Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum in Naha, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Embassy of the United States in Tokyo returned 22 historic artifacts that were looted following the Battle of Okinawa and had been missing for almost 80 years.
