(From Left) YAMADA Toru, President Noah Agnus, and Tribal Administrator Elliot Tulik at the Umikumiut Tribal Office
(Back) Tairyo-bata (big catch flag) from Nagasaki’s Goto Islands donated by Koichi Hirayama
On August 26, 2026, Professor YAMADA Toru (School of Arts and Letters) visited the Native Village of Umkumiut in Nightmute, in the State of Alaska of the United States of America in order to repatriate the human remains and funerary materials which had been stored at the Meiji University for over 50 years. The remains were brought to Japan by the late archaeologist Hiroaki Okada in the 1960s, when he and his group conducted their research in the old settlement site of Ngel’umiut, which was approximately a mile northeast from the Umkumiut community’s fish camp.
Prior to his visit to the Umkumiut community, Professor Okada participated in Meiji University’s Alaska Expedition in 1960. He was one of the core members of the archaeological team, and kept in close contact with Meiji University even after taking a position at Hokkaido University, such as having some of Meiji’s junior archaeologists participate in his own research projects to Alaska between the 1960s and the 1980s. As a result, the ancestral remains and the funerary material of the Umkumiut people ended up at the Meiji University even though Professor Okada was not formally affiliated with Meiji. With generous help from the Umkumiut community, Professor YAMADA could visit the community and repatriate the remains and the funerary materials in person for the first time in over 50 years.
The tribal council members of the Umkumiut have been kind and patient since we first called their office back in April 2026 to tell them about the existence of the remains at Meiji and our intent for repatriation. They provided a tremendous amount of support both for the trip preparation but also for Professor YAMADA’s stay in the Umkumiut community.
We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to the organizations and individuals that made this repatriation possible including the Native Village of Umkumiut, Ristroph Law, Planning, and Research, the U.S. Embassy Tokyo, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Hui Iwi Kuamoʻo, and many more. Also, Mr. Koichi Hirayama generously donated the Tairyo-bata (big catch flag) as a gift to the Umkumiut community.