神（kami) - or god, in Japanese
Global Prayer Digest, March 4, 2008

Ainu People of Japan and Russia
"From this, we know that they must have traveled far and wide at one
time."
"I can almost understand these people!" thought the Eskimo visitor to
Russia's far eastern Sakhalin Island. He was visiting an Ainu
village. Linguists have recently discovered that the Ainu language
resembles the Eskimo language and also Basque, a language in far-away
Western Europe. Most of the Ainu people live in Japan, on the
northern island of Hokkaido. We know that they must have traveled far
and wide at one time.

Most Ainus worship the sacred bear, but this people group also has a
concept of a high God who is above the sacred bear. The Ainu people
call this high God "Kami," which has roughly the same meaning as the
Eskimo word "Kammi," meaning "the ancient one," or "he who existed at
the time of creation." Such a concept is one step in the right
direction, but it doesn't provide them with a saving faith. Only one
percent of the Ainu people consider themselves Christians, and many
of these so-called Christians don't truly know Jesus as Lord and
Savior."

The oldest written history of Japan is called the Kojiki. In this book the acts of the high kami (God) are recorded in great similarity to the account in the book of Genesis in the Bible. Please pray that God would use this link to help Japanese seek the God of their ancestors, whom they pay homage to. Please pray for salvation to come to our Japanese friends.