(CNN)"Are you scared when you have to go back to the mountain at night?" It's a not a question guides at a museum would usually be asked, but it's happened to those at the outdoor Ainu Museum and cultural village in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost and second-largest island. The museum is dedicated to the culture of the Ainu people, an ethnic group that not many -- even in Japan itself -- know much about. For weary guides at the museum, who live close to the museum in Shiraoi, an hour's drive from the city of Sapporo (but not in primitive huts on the hillside), being able to tell visitors about their unique heritage and language is worth the occasional muddleheaded question.
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Ainu Museum is a re-creation of an outdoor village of Japan's indigenous people
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There are about 25,000 Ainu people but only about 10 Ainu speakers
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They lead a relatively hard life compared to other Japanese people today
However there are signs that the @placeholder government may be making an effort to understand the challenges faced by the country's minority groups.