The Ainu are the indigenous people of the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, including Hokkaido Island, Northeast Honshu Island, Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula and Khabarovsk Krai, before the arrival of the Yamato Japanese and Russians. These regions are referred to as Ezo (蝦夷) in historical Japanese texts.
Sakhalin is the largest island of Russia. It is north of the Japanese archipelago, and is administered as part of the Sakhalin Oblast. Sakhalin is situated in the Pacific Ocean, sandwiched between the Sea of Okhotsk to the east and the Sea of Japan to the west. It is located just off Khabarovsk Krai, and is north of Hokkaido in Japan. The island houses a population of roughly 500,000, the majority of which are Russians.
Chimonobambusa is a genus of East Asian bamboo in the grass family. They are native to China, Japan, Vietnam, Myanmar, and the Himalayas.
Pseudosasa is a genus of East Asian bamboo in the grass family.
Sasaella is a genus of Japanese bamboo in the grass family.
- Sasaella bitchuensis(Makino) Koidz – southern Honshu
- Sasaella caudiceps(Koidz.) Koidz. – Honshu
- Sasaella hidaensis(Makino) Makino, Hishu zasa – Honshu, Shikoku
- Sasaella hisauchii(Makino) Makino, Hime suzu – Honshu, Shikoku
- Sasaella kogasensis(Nakai) Nakai ex Koidz, Kogashi azuma zasa – Hokkaido, Honshu
- Sasaella leucorhoda(Koidz.) Koidz. – Honshu
- Sasaella masamuneana(Makino) Hatsushima & Muroi, Genkei chiku – Japan
- Sasaella ramosa(Makino) Makino, Azuma zasa – Japan; naturalized in Great Britain + New Zealand
- Sasaella sadoensis(Makino ex Koidz.) Sad.Suzuki – Honshu
- Sasaella sawadae(Makino) Makino ex Koidzum – Honshu
- Sasaella shiobarensis(Nakai) Koidz. – Honshu
Sinobambusa is a genus of East Asian bamboo in the grass family. It is native to China and Vietnam. Sinobambusa tootsik also occurs in Japan, having been introduced there during the Tang Dynasty (618–907).
- Sinobambusa baccanensisT.Q.Nguyen – Vietnam
- Sinobambusa farinosa(McClure) T.H.Wen – Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Zhejiang
- Sinobambusa henryi(McClure) C.D.Chu & C.S.Chao – Guangdong, Guangxi
- Sinobambusa humilaMcClure – Guangdong
- Sinobambusa incanaT.H.Wen – Guangdong
- Sinobambusa intermediaMcClure – Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan
- Sinobambusa nephroauritaC.D.Chu & C.S.Chao – Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan
- Sinobambusa rubroligulaMcClure – Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan
- Sinobambusa sat(Balansa) C.S.Chao & Renvoize – Vietnam
- Sinobambusa scabridaT.H.Wen – Guangxi
- Sinobambusa solearis(McClure) T.Q.Nguyen – Vietnam
- Sinobambusa tootsik(Makino) Makino ex Nakai – Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Vietnam; naturalized in Japan including Ryukyu Islands
- Sinobambusa yixingensisC.S.Chao & K.S.Xiao – Jiangsu
Ainu cuisine is the cuisine of the ethnic Ainu in Japan. The cuisine differs markedly from that of the majority Yamato people of Japan. Raw meat like sashimi, for example, is rarely served in Ainu cuisine, which instead uses methods such as boiling, roasting and curing to prepare meat. Also unlike Japanese cuisine, traditional Ainu cuisine did not use miso, soy sauce, or sugar, though these seasonings make an appearance in modern Ainu cuisine. The island of Hokkaidō in northern Japan is where most Ainu live today; however, they once inhabited most of the Kuril islands, the southern half of Sakhalin island, and parts of northern Honshū Island.
Cardiocrinum is a genus of bulbous plants of the lily family first described in 1846. They are native to the Himalaya, China, the Russian Far East, and Japan. The bulbs are usually formed at the soil surface. The preferred habitat is woodland. The plants tend to be monocarpic, dying after flowering.
Tomitaro Makino was a pioneer Japanese botanist noted for his taxonomic work. He has been called "Father of Japanese Botany". He was one of the first Japanese botanists to work extensively on classifying Japanese plants using the system developed by Linnaeus. His research resulted in documenting 50,000 specimens, many of which are represented in his Makino's Illustrated Flora of Japan. Despite having dropped out of grammar school, he eventually attained a Doctor of Science degree, and his birthday is remembered as Botany Day in Japan.
Kharimkotan ; Japanese 春牟古丹島; Harimukotan-tō, alternatively Harumukotan-tō or 加林古丹島; Karinkotan-tō) is an uninhabited volcanic island located 15 km (9 mi) from Onekotan near the northern end of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Its name is derived from the Ainu language, from “village of many Cardiocrinum”.
Yasuyoshi Shirasawa was a Japanese botanist who worked alongside Tomitaro Makino 'The Father of Japanese Botany', at the University of Tokyo. Shirasawa named numerous native plants, notably the endangered Picea koyamae and the Kyūshū Lime Tilia kiusiana.
Zabelia corymbosa is a species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae. It is native to Central Asia, where it occurs in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
Erythronium japonicum, known as Asian fawnlily, is a pink-flowered species trout lily, belonging to the Lily family and native to Japan, Korea, the Russian Far East and northeastern China. It is a spring ephemeral, blooming April–June in woodlands. It is known as zhūyáhuā (猪牙花) in Chinese, eolleji (얼레지) in Korean, and katakuri (片栗) in Japanese.
Allium inutile is a species of wild onion native to Honshu Island in Japan and to Anhui Province of southeastern China.
Phyllospadix iwatensis is a plant species found along the seacoasts of Japan, Korea, China, and the Russian Far East. It was first discovered in 1929 near on the Miyako Peninsula in Iwate Prefecture in Japan, in northeastern Honshu. It occurs in the intertidal zone along the shore.
Quercus serrata, the jolcham oak, is an East Asian species of tree in the beech family. It is native to China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea.
Erigeron alpicola is an Asian species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is native to Japan, to Jilin Province in China, and to the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia.
Ponerorchis kinoshitae is a species of flowering plant in the family Orchidaceae, native to the south Kuril Islands and northern Japan.
Polystichum makinoi is a species of fern in the genus Polystichum in the family Dryopteridaceae. It is native to Bhutan, China, India, Japan, Nepal, Tibet, North Korea, South Korea, and Myanmar.
Mentha japonica is a plant species in the genus Mentha, endemic to the islands of Hokkaido and Honshu, Japan. Initially described as Micromeria japonica by Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel, it was first identified under its present name by Japanese botanist Tomitaro Makino in 1906. A relatively rare plant, it is classified by the Japanese Ministry of Environment as a Near Threatened species.
