Even within Japan, the food, culture, and history of the Ainu—an Indigenous people native to the country’s northernmost main island, Hokkaido, as well as Russia’s Sakhalin and Kuril Islands—is not well known. But at Harukor, a small izakaya in Tokyo, diners can order ohaw (a delicate soup of wild vegetables and salmon that was once an Ainu staple), a crisp and light tempura made from the wild lily turep, and other dishes that combine Indigenous and Japanese influences. Opened in 2011 by Teruyo Usa, Harukor is both a gathering place for her fellow Ainu in Tokyo and a…
