The Ainu Group at the Saint Louis Exposition

In 1904, American anthropologist Frederick Starr embarked on a journey to the northern Japanese island of Yezo (Hokkaido) with a specific mission: to recruit Ainu people for display at the St. Louis World's Fair. This volume documents that expedition in frank, occasionally admiring detail. Starr and his Mexican photographer companion traveled from Tokyo through Ainu villages, recording interactions, observations, and the logistics of transporting human subjects across the Pacific for public exhibition. The prose captures Ainu customs, appearances, and environments with an anthropologist's eye, yet the underlying framework remains what we now recognize as deeply troubling: the collection and display of indigenous peoples as living curiosities for Western audiences. Starr reflects on the challenges faced by the Ainu group during their preparation for the fair, set against the backdrop of war between Japan and Russia. The book functions as an uncomfortable but valuable primary source, revealing both the beauty of Ainu culture as observed by an outsider and the colonial logic that reduced human beings to anthropological spectacle.