2025 Golden Maple Reception

We are proud to welcome this year’s distinguished presenter, Dr. Kanako Uzawa—an Ainu scholar, artist, and advocate for Indigenous rights. In her compelling presentation “The Vision of an Indigenous Scholar on the Enduring Spirit of Ainu Women,” Dr. Uzawa shares a deeply personal story of resistance, heritage, and empowerment. She reflects on her family’s fight to protect ancestral lands, the complexities of cultural representation in museums, and the continuing legal struggles faced by Ainu people. Through the lens of Ainu women as cultural stewards, she challenges colonial narratives and reclaims identity through art, heritage, and storytelling.
We look forward to welcoming you on Friday, October 3rd, 2025, at the Signature Sandman Hotel for this unforgettable evening.
Doors open at 5:30 PM
Dinner served at 6:15 PM
Presentation begins at 7:00 PM
Tickets: $100 per person – includes a buffet dinner from Prime Catering, coffee/tea, and presentation access.

Dr. Kanako Uzawa
Dr. Kanako Uzawa is an Ainu scholar, artist, and rights advocate. She is the founder of AinuToday, a global online platform that delivers living Ainu culture and people. She is an Assistant Professor for the Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity at Hokkaido University in Japan. Her most recent work engages with Ainu art exhibitions as a guest curator in collaboration with the University of Michigan Museum of Art in the United States and as an associated researcher at the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo in Norway. She is also an editorial board member of AlterNative: an International Journal of Indigenous Peoples in New Zealand, Aotearoa.
During her youth, she encountered negative representations and discrimination toward the Ainu and discovered a stark contrast between the general public’s view and her people’s. She wondered what it meant to be Ainu in the twenty-first century, which motivated her to explore a way to express the Ainu’s contemporary livelihood.
She obtained her master’s in Indigenous Studies and a doctorate degree in Community Planning and Cultural Understanding from the UiT Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, in 2020. She’s held an internship in the Project to Promote ILO Policy on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (PRO 169) at the International Labour Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. She contributes to collaborative research and Ainu performing arts on the multifaceted articulations of Indigenous knowledge through museums and theatres as an artist.

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