The Rainbow Upopo: An Ainu novel

An anonymous hamlet on the southern shores of Hokkaido is on the cusp of changing its fortunes that may finally put it on the map, and match the renown of Sapporo and Niseko in the northern Japanese prefecture. The minority inhabitants of the town of Kabashiro will be forgiven for not being as elated, for many economic winds have come and gone but always passing the Ainus by. Why then would this mega-resort development be any different? Then the sleepy normalcy of Kabashiro is shattered by wailing sirens as North Korean ballistic missiles flew dangerously over their skies. Before the excitement has died down, a pod of minke whales beached themselves in mass suicide on the black sands of the town's shoreline. A growing sense of foreboding is spreading among the indigenous Ainus, and it all comes to a head with the discovery of a deliberate desecration to an Ainu ancestral burial site. These are all signs to the Ainus that the wrath of their ancient gods is about to be unleashed on the town of Kabashiro and its people.

Precipitating a chain of events, the normally docile Ainus rise up in arms when another startling revelation uncovers yet another deception against their people. But there is much more that meets the eye where the Ainus are mere pawns and acceptable collateral damage in a high-stakes game between actors seen and unseen. The hapless Ainus find a paladin in an opaque organisation but their motives too may be less than noble. It is getting harder to tell who's friend and who's foe, even among their own. Regardless, the authorities are adamant the multibillion-dollar resort will not be derailed at any cost, which foreshadows an inevitable confrontation and where the tiny Ainu community are doomed to lose...again.

There are however more deep secrets hidden within the dense forests bordering the seaside town where the Ainus once roamed and hunted freely in the days of old. Countless sightless dark eyes on towering white birch trunks glower at the intrusion of the resort construction on its hallowed grounds. Death begins to rear its ugly head under the dark shadows, but the rewards are too high for the conspirators to do anything but move forward. As the world slowly awakens to the unravelling events in Kabashiro, it is up to young Ainus-Haru, Shinji and Ryohei to turn the tide against their people. The odds look grossly insurmountable but they may yet have an ally in a distant kin, while an unwitting American university professor could hold the key to the source of hope and redemption from the gods to spare Kabashiro from a dark fate.