Minako Sakata received a doctorate in Area Studies from the University of Tokyo. She is currently Research Associate at the University of Tokyo, and teaches undergraduate courses at Hosei University. Current interests include inter-genre referentiality in Ainu oral literature and Ainu ethnohistory. Among her recent publications are “Tukupita no shucho no monogatari: Ainu Ethnohistory o sozo suru” (2011) and Ainu kosho bungaku no epistemology: rekishi no hoho toshiteno Ainu sanbunsetsuwa (in press).