Reflection of Ainu Tribe’s Culture in Anime Golden Kamuy

In the world, Japan is regarded as a homogeneous nation with distinct racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural identities. In contrast, there are minority groups in Japan, such as the Ainu tribe in Hokkaido and the Ryukyu tribe in Okinawa. The Ainu tribe is a native Japanese ethnicity that is not highlighted and even discriminated against by Japanese society. Nowadays, there are many efforts to eliminate this discrimination, including introducing the Ainu tribe through various media, especially anime. The anime entitled Golden
Kamuy introduces the culture and existence of the Ainu tribe to the world. This study aims to analyze how the Golden Kamuy anime reflects the culture of the Ainu tribe. The research method used is the sociology of literature method using a cultural anthropology approach focusing on universal culture to identify and analyze the elements of Ainu culture in the Golden Kamuy anime season 1. Of the seven universal cultural elements, the author takes three cultural elements, including belief, social system, and livelihood, because these three cultural elements are clearly reflected in the Golden Kamuy season 1 anime. As analysis results, the author finds that the Golden Kamuy anime can accurately reflect the Ainu culture. All elements of Ainu culture shown in this anime have the same meaning and understanding as those of Ainu culture in the real world.