Ainu Cuisine and Venison Dishes at Community Café Minapa Cise

Located at the foot of Mount Tarumae, Community café Minapa Cise strives to be a place where you can heal your mind and your body with food. The café serves dishes made from local ingredients such as vegetables, rice, herbs, and fermented foods.

Owner Naomi Tamura, who has Ainu roots, creates Ainu dishes that have been passed down to her from her mother.

aina

In Ainu language, minapa cise means “a house (cise) where we can laugh together (minapa)”.

Naomi

Minapa Cise is a community café where everyone can gather and be happy.
To spread the word about Shiraoi and Ainu culture, we serve venison and other Ainu cuisine (along with an assortment of other dishes) as well as holding Ainu embroidery workshops.

Ainu cuisine

aina

The ohaw is so good!

Naomi

Thank you!
The salmon (cep) we use is caught here in Shiraoi.
The flavor of the ohaw is straight from my mom’s recipe!
She was a passionate and strict teacher!!

aina

The saltiness of the Japanese sticky millet is delicious.
The pumpkin mash (botsubotsu) is also part of Ainu cuisine, isn’t it?
The rice cake (sito) has a subtle sweetness!

Naomi

At Minapa Cise, we add beach rose extract to our sito, so that’s why they’re sweet.
Our Ainu dishes are by reservation only, so if anyone would like to try them, please be sure to give us a call!

Check out this video of Naomi using sign language to talk about the dishes available at Minapa Cise. 

Yuk (venison) dishes

You can enjoy three kinds of yuk dishes at Minapa Cise.

Naomi

Ainu people have always been grateful for deer, using every part for food and daily necessities.
Venison is high in protein and low in fat, and in recent years has been attracting attention as a good meal for athletes.

Yuk curry

Naomi

Made with tender venison marinated in salted rice malt.

Yuk rice bowl

Naomi

In this dish, the venison is marinated in our own special sauce made from rice malt and soy sauce.

Grilled yuk

Naomi

We follow a simple recipe by marinating our yuk solely with salted rice malt so that the natural flavor isn’t overpowered.

Please note that there are times when Minapa Cise can’t offer venison dishes as it is not always possible to source deer from the Shiraoi area.

Make sure you check in advance whether yuk is available or not!

Beach rose drink

Naomi

The Ainu used to make a drink by boiling beach rose petals to get the vitamins they needed.
In addition to using the fruit from the beach rose in food, the Ainu shipped the petals to the main island of Japan for trade.

This traditional drink continues to delight, with its subtle color and aroma similar to rose perfume.

Ainu embroidery workshop

Naomi

We hold an Ainu embroidery workshop on the second and fourth Friday of each month.
We don’t serve the Ainu dishes on the days we run embroidery workshops or other events.

The instructor is Yae Shimokawa, who used to make clothing, surcoats (called jinbaori in Japanese) and hand, wrist and leg guards at Porotokotan, the Ainu museum that was later expanded to become Upopoy.

Yae continues to be involved with Upopoy by making costumes for the dancers to wear.

Yae is also recognized by Shiraoi Town as an inheritor of intangible folk cultural heritage.

Check out the Instagram video to see what the workshops are like!

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People come from afar to participate in the embroidery workshops.

There are elementary school students who are interested in Ainu culture and attend regularly.

Various people come to make headbands (matampus) and drawstring bags under Yae’s guidance.

There’s no need to bring anything!

If you’re wondering about what kind of cloth to use, or what to make, Yae will help you decide!

Ainu souvenir corner

In the souvenir corner, you’ll find T-shirts adorned with Ainu patters, accessories featuring Ainu embroidery, and Ainu mouth harps (mukkur).

There are also books about the Ainu, which you can read for free while you’re in the café.

Here we have some picture books based on Ainu oral literature.

Minapa Cise also runs a children’s cafeteria, making it a welcoming place to children.

With a raised seating area, toys and picture books, families with children will be able to relax and enjoy their time together.

Minapa Cise, a House Where We Can Laugh Together

Naomi collaborated with Hinato Tezuka, a forest-loving musician from Tokyo, to create a song called Minapa Cise, a House Where We Can Laugh Together. You can check it out in the YouTube video below!

aina

So, what is a community café?

Naomi

It’s a place where people can come together and connect.

A place of belonging.

Naomi is the leader of Utekanpa, a nonprofit organization run by Minapa Cise.

Utekanpa runs activities to promote health, medical care and welfare to achieve multicultural coexistence that transcends ethnicity, age, gender and disability.

The women’s salon Raporapo offers childcare and nursing courses taught by midwives, nurses and counseling staff.

The Ainu embroidery workshops are also part of Raporapo’s activities.

The children’s cafeteria, Camsecamse, provides free meals to children.

Naomi

I started it as a place of belonging for children.

アイナ

I see! So Minapa Cise is not just a restaurant;

it’s a facility that is actively working towards multicultural coexistence by offering a place of belonging for everyone!