The Thule region of northern Greenland is located at the highest latitude on earth as a region where humans have settled for a long time. Villages in the Thule area are all natural settlements. It is said that people began to live in the Thule area about 4,500 years ago when they crossed the frozen sea from Canada (Fleischer 2003: 5). In 1818, a British expedition party led by John Ross “discovered” people who have continued their traditional life in the region (Ross 1819: 79-82). As for clothing, it is possible to buy down jackets and other modern winter clothing as in Japan and Western countries, but people still wear old-fashioned fur clothing for hunting for a few days or a longer period. It is their identity to hunting and clothing made from animal fur are identity of the people living in northern Greenland. However, people wear fur clothing not only for the identity, but also for its functionality such as durability, insulation and breathability.

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Since snowmobiles were introduced into northeastern Finland during the 1960s, reindeer sleds have disappeared and the nature of Skolt Samis' subsistence and society has drastically changed (Pelto 1987) . However, this kind of change has not necessarily occurred at every site where snowmobiles were introduced. In this article, I survey usage of reindeer sleds and snowmobiles in four cases of taiga reindeer herders in the Republic of Sakha, Russia, considering differences in functions. Reindeer sleds have been broadly used in northern Eurasia, where reindeer herding is traditionally practiced. Since the 1960s, as snowmobiles have spread in the north, reindeer and dog sleds have disappeared in many areas. Nevertheless, in recent years, reindeer herders in middle eastern and southern areas of the Republic of Sakha have used reindeer sleds on a daily basis, although they often have snowmobiles too. In the cases that both reindeer sleds and snowmobiles are utilized, the former seem to be used for short distance travel and travel without traffic noise, and the latter for long distance travel. In the circumstances where fuel and spare parts for snowmobiles cannot be supplied stably, or the topography and vegetation are not suitable for snowmobiles, reindeer sleds seem to be utilized. As part of daily management, reindeer are herded on foot or by reindeer riding without using reindeer sleds or snowmobiles in the cases referred to in this article. In these situations, close relationships between herders and reindeer are formed through daily herding. In the “snowmobile revolution,” the introduction of snowmobiles affected the subsistence and society of local Skolt Sami through the alteration of human-reindeer relationships. If snowmobiles were not used and the close human-reindeer relationships were not compromised in taiga reindeer herding in the Republic of Sakha, there would not have been drastic change in the subsistence and society of the indigenous people there.

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Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples houses the “Hattori Collection”, which includes a lot of materials of Attu dialect of Aleut (Unangan) language and Aleut culture. Linguist Takeshi Hattori (1909-1991), who was well-known as the expert of the Nivkh language, researched the Aleut language in 1943 at Otaru city in Hokkaido, Japan. In those days, all Aleuts of the Attu island were interned in Otaru in the course of Aleutian Islands campaign between the Japanese and U.S. Army. Although Hattori left a lot of linguistic and ethnographic data, unfortunately, these materials are rarely used by researchers. One of the difficulties to use materials is that no one grasps the outline of Hattori's research because he never published his Aleut study. Therefore, it is hard to understand “raw materials” which were handwritten in English, Japanese, Aleut, etc., for lacking information about his research overview or purpose. This paper reveals the picture of Hattori's Aleut study by transcribing and editing several materials (T-177, T-373, T-400 and T-428). T-373 and T-428 are typed versions of uncompleted linguistic papers which were probably aimed to be published by Hattori. These manuscripts provide an excellent overview of his work and his research objectives. T-177 is another typed manuscript, a vocabulary list of the Aleut-English. T-400 is a handwritten note on the background of his Aleut research. We edited these materials and added the editors' notes. Besides, we listed all Aleut materials of Hattori Collections. These materials will support our understanding of Hattori's study and future studies of the Aleut language.

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This article takes a brief look at the Russian Orthodox Missionary Activities in Hokkaido in Meiji period described in the diaries of Nikolai and Sergei who worked as missionaries in Hokkaido in 1898. Hakodate, open port city, was the hub of Christian missions in Hokkaido. Christianity was introduced from Hakodate to Sapporo, and then to inland area including Asahikawa. The Russian Orthodox Church in Japan began in 1858 when the first Russian Consul arrived in Hakodate, and the church was built in the following year. In summer 1898, Nikolai and Sergei left Tokyo and went to Nemuro. They traveled to Nemuro by sea from Hakodate. After visiting the Eastern Hokkaido region including Kunashiri and Etorohu, Nikolai and Sergei returned to Hakodate from Nemuro. Nikolai went back to Tokyo from Hakodate. Sergei separated from Nikolai and visited the Russian Orthodox members in Central, Northern and Southern Hokkaido. He worked very actively and kept a diary. The whereabouts of the Russian Orthodox Christians in Hokkaido in Meiji Period are well described in his diary. This article focuses on this aspect and examines how the Russian Orthodox Church was expanded in Hokkaido.

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