There is a village in the east of Hokkaido that while being touristic overloaded, represents one of the biggest Ainu communities, which try to preserve their culture and let the world know about it. The name of this village is Akan, named after the great lake Akanko on which's shore it is located.
Akan is indeed a village, because it is really small. There are basically two streets and one path. One street is the highway on Akan's north border, the other is its main shopping street, the "center" of Akan, and last the path leads along the wonderful lake and then into the mystical forest.
Being touristic overloaded means the central street is plastered with tourist shops, which however, look really nice, are mostly lead by real Ainu descendants and mostly sell items handcrafted by the owner. Apart from that there is the Ainu Kotan, the traditional Ainu village, around which the rest of the town was built and the lake, which contains its own little mystery: the ball shaped algae called marimo. On the lake you can take an expensive boat ride, which will take you to a little island in the center of the lake, which hosts a marimo museum.
Tourist shops on the central street through Akan
In case you have no idea what is marimo, this small green round ball is the things I mentioned.
Kamuy (Owl) are similar to the Japanese kami (God)— the term is sometimes translated as god or divine spirit, but these translations miss some of the nuances of the term. Kamuy are numerous; some are delineated and named, such as Kamuy Fuchi the hearth goddess, while others are not. Kamuy often have very specific associations — for instance, there is a kamuy of the undertow.
The Ainu had no writing system of their own, and much of Ainu mythology was passed down as oral history in the form of kamuy yukar (deity epics), long verses traditionally recounted by singers at a gathering. Each kamuy yukar recounts a deity's or hero's adventures, usually in the first person, and some of them are of great length, containing as many as 7,000 verses. Some yukar contradict each other, assigning the same events to different deities or heroes; this is primarily a result of the Ainu culture's organization into small, relatively isolated groups. Records of these poems began to be kept only in the late 19th century, by Western missionaries and Japanese ethnographers; however, the Ainu tradition of memorizing the yukar preserved many.
Kamuy (owl) is the word for a spiritual or divine being in Ainu mythology.
There are also two convenience stores, which also function as restaurants and offer Ramen and some other dishes. In the far end of the village you can find a tourist information, which has maps of the place and information about all the facilities.
Concerning the Ainu there are two museums, one about how they lived, and one about their harmony with nature and their arts. There is also one inside stage, where they perform their traditional dances, and one outside for concerts. Lastly there is one more museum about the ecology of Akan, which is free of charge.
For lodging I can recommend either to use the Camping Place or the incredible cool Rider House, led by an ancient Ainu for 500 Yen a day including breakfast and dinner.
Kotan is the Ainu word for village or settlement. Akan's Ainu Kotan extends the shopping street and hosts some more exclusive shops, all run by Ainu. It is the original village, today's Akan grew out of. In the center of the Kotan you can find a wooden hut, where at night around 8 pm, you can take pictures of yourself with an old Ainu Shaman for free (which happens to be the owner of the Rider House).
Small Ainu Museum
When you face the big stage house the sixth shop to your right (熊の家 Kuma No Ie), also hosts a little museum in the basement dedicated to a talented Ainu artist who specialized in wood sculpturing. So in the basement, you can find many samples of his work, followed by information about him and the arts the Ainu.
The Ainu is crafting
Further details about Access:
http://www.lake-akan.com/en/access/index.html
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