Daniel Kaihatsu (開発 妥仁得)
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kaihat.su
Daniel Kaihatsu (開発 妥仁得)
@kaihat.su
940 followers 200 following 1.1K posts
Videomaker, scholar, type designer in Osaka.
在阪タイプデザイナー、動画制作者と学者。

English／日本語／Español／العربية
Aynu'itak ponno k=eraman.
Videos: kaih.at/youtube
Writing: afkary.ae

Views = my own. 内容は私個人の見解。
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
kaihat.su
Daniel Kaihatsu (開発 妥仁得) @kaihat.su · Nov 10
I guess I should pin an intro here.
I’m Kaihatsu, a UAE-born Scot working in Osaka as a type designer!
I also spend a lot of time in Hokkaido visiting Ainu communities with the Japan Society of Scotland.
I post about Ainu culture, Japanese & Ainu culture in games, type design, travel - all sorts!
kaihat.su
Large earthquake in Northern Tōhoku and southern Hokkaido.
A tsunami warning has also been issued - those in the concerned areas should take appropriate measures including evacuation where necessary.
December 8, 2025 at 2:39 PM
kaihat.su
I have received so many messages about the Fontworks/Monotype situation.

Believe me, I’d love to make some kind of explainer video to walk people through what’s going on and what it means but there’s no way in hell that I’d get clearance to make something like that lol
December 7, 2025 at 1:08 PM
kaihat.su
Also regarding the $20K price point for some of these fonts. Nintendo was likely already paying that amount (if not more!).

The subscription model that was retired was geared towards indies and smaller companies. Nintendo will have already been paying much higher corporate/enterprise rates.
kaihat.su Daniel Kaihatsu (開発 妥仁得) @kaihat.su · 1d
For people panicking over what this means for certain games:

No, this won't affect released games like Splatoon 3. Nintendo doesn't license fonts the way smeller devs did via LETS, and Nintendo owns the rights to any custom projects produced by Fontworks like their Mario typeface.
kaihat.su Daniel Kaihatsu (開発 妥仁得) @kaihat.su · 7d
Yeah, I was aware of this and am not surprised. Since the acquisition was announced I was expecting that things would get worse for Japanese customers that stuck with Fontworks as it was subsumed into Monotype.
Good opportunity for their Japanese competitors to step in.
December 7, 2025 at 11:19 AM
kaihat.su
For people panicking over what this means for certain games:

No, this won't affect released games like Splatoon 3. Nintendo doesn't license fonts the way smeller devs did via LETS, and Nintendo owns the rights to any custom projects produced by Fontworks like their Mario typeface.
kaihat.su Daniel Kaihatsu (開発 妥仁得) @kaihat.su · 7d
Yeah, I was aware of this and am not surprised. Since the acquisition was announced I was expecting that things would get worse for Japanese customers that stuck with Fontworks as it was subsumed into Monotype.
Good opportunity for their Japanese competitors to step in.
jau2cr.bsky.social Jau 🍂🦉🪩 (Versión Cieloazul) @jau2cr.bsky.social · 7d
@kaihat.su Hey! I don't know if you've seen this news. It's about Fontworks (LETS) and Monotype, you might be interested: automaton-media.com/en/news/japa...
December 7, 2025 at 6:04 AM
kaihat.su
I was talking to one of my Japanese friends about this and he laughed when I told him the Yaema word for danger is “pikohan” because in Japanese, pikohan is the word for one of those squeaky toy hammers 😂
kaihat.su Daniel Kaihatsu (開発 妥仁得) @kaihat.su · Nov 17
A sign I saw when I visited Hateruma, Japan's southernmost inhabited island, called Paterōma in the island's dialect of the Yaeyama language (Yaima).
The Yaima sign here reads "Utamandu tunji pikohan", meaning "Beware of children jumping out"

Utamandu = children
Tunji = jumping out
Pikohan = danger
December 6, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Reposted by Daniel Kaihatsu (開発 妥仁得)
kaihat.su
On my visit to the Yaeyama Islands, I noticed local languages used only kana—Katakana for Yaima & Hiragana for Dunan (Yonaguni)—though they can be written with kanji.
Here’s an example of Yonaguni with kanji from Folktales of Yonaguni (与那国島の昔話) by Iwase Hiroshi.
Each page has Japanese translation.
Sample of the Yonaguni language (Dunan) using kanji instead of solely kana, from Folktales of Yonaguni by Iwase Hiroshi, 1983. This text describes the supposed origin of the Higawa Matsuri (Ndi Machiri). Sample of the Yonaguni language (Dunan) using kanji instead of solely kana, from Folktales of Yonaguni by Iwase Hiroshi, 1983. This text describes the supposed origin of the Higawa Matsuri (Ndi Machiri).
November 20, 2024 at 12:04 AM
Reposted by Daniel Kaihatsu (開発 妥仁得)
kaihat.su
A sign I saw when I visited Hateruma, Japan's southernmost inhabited island, called Paterōma in the island's dialect of the Yaeyama language (Yaima).
The Yaima sign here reads "Utamandu tunji pikohan", meaning "Beware of children jumping out"

Utamandu = children
Tunji = jumping out
Pikohan = danger
November 17, 2024 at 2:46 AM
Reposted by Daniel Kaihatsu (開発 妥仁得)
kaihat.su
Interesting video that explains why anime was dubbed in Modern Standard Arabic and not dialect. I remember seeing anime on TV when I visited Egypt but back in the UAE the only animated show I watched in Arabic was the Smurfs 😅

HOW ANIME TAUGHT US ARABIC – The Secret Classroom of the Arab World
HOW ANIME TAUGHT US ARABIC – The Secret Classroom of the Arab World
YouTube video by The Kandari Chronicles
www.youtube.com
December 4, 2025 at 12:42 PM
kaihat.su
Interesting video that explains why anime was dubbed in Modern Standard Arabic and not dialect. I remember seeing anime on TV when I visited Egypt but back in the UAE the only animated show I watched in Arabic was the Smurfs 😅

HOW ANIME TAUGHT US ARABIC – The Secret Classroom of the Arab World
HOW ANIME TAUGHT US ARABIC – The Secret Classroom of the Arab World
YouTube video by The Kandari Chronicles
www.youtube.com
December 4, 2025 at 12:42 PM
kaihat.su
Big milestone for Gaelic and Scots in Scotland! Both are now recognised as official languages.
Gaelic and Scots now recognised as official languages - BBC News
The milestone is one of a number of new measures taking effect on St Andrew's Day from the Scottish Languages Act.
www.bbc.com
December 3, 2025 at 3:35 AM
Reposted by Daniel Kaihatsu (開発 妥仁得)
kaihat.su
All this talk about China and the Ryukyu has reminded me of when prominent Nibutani Ainu Kaizawa Koichi visited China and what Chinese officials said to him about seeking independence - that China, Russia and America wouldn't leave an independent Ainu Hokkaido alone.
(From "The Japan We Never Knew")
Even though the Ainu are a majority in Nibutani, discrimination still exists. “But there were more Ainu, so when there were fights, we could win,” Kaizawa told us with a wry smile. But outside Nibutani, his grandfather understood who was more powerful. My grandfather was an assimilationist. He believed that by abandoning his Ainuness he could overcome racism and become Japanese. So he consciously prohibited speaking Ainu at home, refused to observe the customs and ceremonies. My grandmother was not Ainu, but she had been abandoned as a child and adopted by Ainu, so she grew up as an Ainu. It was she who loved the Ainu culture and kept the habits. We were influenced by her. Probably influenced by his father, my father was also an assimila¬ tionist and didn’t know much about Ainu culture or the language. He believed in being Japanese. He was recruited for the war as a Japanese, but once in the army he realized that discrimination against Ainu was still widespread. In China, he found five ethnic groups coexisting in Manchuria and northeastern China. He saw the harsh way Japanese discriminated against Koreans. He realized the Ainu had to have their own culture. You can’t escape from what you are. When he returned from the war, he wasn’t the same person he had been before. That was the beginning of the Ainu movement for him. Kaizawa’s father, Tadashi Kaizawa, was one of the founders of the Utari Association of Hokkaido; with its 25,000 members it is the largest Ainu organization. He was especially concerned with the welfare of the Ainu people and the recognition of their culture. In 1899 the Former Aborigines Protection Act had simply extinguished the rights of Ainu. Under the guise of protecting the impoverished people, the act was instrumental in further destroying their cultural and economic base and accelerating the process of assimilation. Tadashi Kaizawa played a central role in the movement to push for an Ainu New Law (Counterplan to the Proposal for Legislation Concerning the Ainu People). Kaizawa told us he bitterly remembers the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo when an NHK television announcer said, “It’s been one hundred years since Japanese pioneers came to this no-man’s land.” Koichi snorted. "Until a few years ago, Japan was telling the world they didn’t have any ethnic minorities. But we have been making progress slowly but surely. I think we have had an impact. Once there is recognition of Ainu, Japan has to recognize other ethnic groups." In August 1987 the Utari Association delivered a paper to the United Nations in Geneva. In it they asked the U.N. to investigate their situation as an indigenous and ethnic minority within Japan, stressing the following three points: 1. Despite the “assimilation policy” as rendered by the Japanese government, we, the Ainu, have maintained our ethnicity as indigenous people in Japan. We have the “right of self-determination.” 2. We, the Ainu, have our culture, religion, and customs which no one can violate. The Ainu have never given up these rights. Thus, the Ainu still firmly possess the rights of culture, religion, language, and customs. 3. The Ainu have the right to demand the establishment of a “New Act” which should replace the discriminatory “Hokkaido Former Aborigines Protection Act.” Another achievement of Tadashi Kaizawa’s was his trip to China to obtain recognition of the existence of the Ainu as an ethnic group within Japan. He managed to get an invitation from the Chinese government for an Ainu delegation. Koichi Kaizawa added, "During the eighteen years since the first visit, we have been invited three times, and sixteen Ainu have visited the country. In his will, my father instructed that we go to China and officially thank them on his behalf. I did that this year." What Tadashi Kaizawa, his son, and their fellow Ainu saw on their visits influenced them greatly; in the Chinese system, small ethnic groups have a guaranteed place. The Ainu suddenly had a broader perspective. Like aboriginal people in North America, the Ainu community had a range of views about their relationship with the dominant society. Some would like to separate completely, demanding land and political autonomy over it. At the other end of the spectrum are many who have already assimilated and disappeared into the Japanese mainstream. Kaizawa told us how the visits to China had affected him. 「When I went to China 16 years ago, I had a separatist view and expressed it. One Chinese official said to me, “I understand you want independence, but after you get it, what happens then? It might cause a 3rd world war. Hokkaido being such a hotspot, the Chinese, Russians, and Americans won’t be silent. You can imagine what might happen. Do you still want independence?” And I had to say no. The Chinese man said, “Wouldn’t you prefer establishing rights and then peacefully coexist with Japan?”」 Koichi's motivation had always been anger and a desire for a place where the Ainu could be left alone to live their lives and practise their culture. That did not change. He was still angry about the way the Ainu have been treated, but his approach became more moderate and rational. "The highest goal would be an autonomous state within Japan. I understand the Japanese cannot accept the idea that we would take all of Hokkaido and that the Japanese would have to leave. Although we say clearly that northern Honshu, Hokkaido, and the Kuriles were once our territory, we do not tell Japanese to go away. We want to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Taking up arms will just make enemies. We prefer to talk, and that’s more appropriate because it’s part of Ainu tradition called ukocharanke." Kayano explained to us the meaning of the term ukocharanke: Uko means “mutually,” and charanke means “to let words fall”; the compound word ukocharanke thus refers to the Ainu custom of settling differences by arguing exhaustively. It also implies that the Ainu do not solve disputes by violence. Charanke requires the talent to argue with logic and the physical strength to sit in debate for days. Kaizawa continued: "I understand the Ainu world is evaporating quickly. We are now witnessing the last generation of Ainu. Their rich cultural background is dying out. In the meantime Japanese scholars have been collecting material about Ainu. When we are ready, we will be able to get it back with the help of the Japanese knowledge of Ainu culture. It’s sad but that’s the reality. First Ainu must know what being Ainu means. And then we must have the Japanese recognize the Ainu as indigenous people."
December 2, 2025 at 8:51 AM
kaihat.su
All this talk about China and the Ryukyu has reminded me of when prominent Nibutani Ainu Kaizawa Koichi visited China and what Chinese officials said to him about seeking independence - that China, Russia and America wouldn't leave an independent Ainu Hokkaido alone.
(From "The Japan We Never Knew")
Even though the Ainu are a majority in Nibutani, discrimination still exists. “But there were more Ainu, so when there were fights, we could win,” Kaizawa told us with a wry smile. But outside Nibutani, his grandfather understood who was more powerful. My grandfather was an assimilationist. He believed that by abandoning his Ainuness he could overcome racism and become Japanese. So he consciously prohibited speaking Ainu at home, refused to observe the customs and ceremonies. My grandmother was not Ainu, but she had been abandoned as a child and adopted by Ainu, so she grew up as an Ainu. It was she who loved the Ainu culture and kept the habits. We were influenced by her. Probably influenced by his father, my father was also an assimila¬ tionist and didn’t know much about Ainu culture or the language. He believed in being Japanese. He was recruited for the war as a Japanese, but once in the army he realized that discrimination against Ainu was still widespread. In China, he found five ethnic groups coexisting in Manchuria and northeastern China. He saw the harsh way Japanese discriminated against Koreans. He realized the Ainu had to have their own culture. You can’t escape from what you are. When he returned from the war, he wasn’t the same person he had been before. That was the beginning of the Ainu movement for him. Kaizawa’s father, Tadashi Kaizawa, was one of the founders of the Utari Association of Hokkaido; with its 25,000 members it is the largest Ainu organization. He was especially concerned with the welfare of the Ainu people and the recognition of their culture. In 1899 the Former Aborigines Protection Act had simply extinguished the rights of Ainu. Under the guise of protecting the impoverished people, the act was instrumental in further destroying their cultural and economic base and accelerating the process of assimilation. Tadashi Kaizawa played a central role in the movement to push for an Ainu New Law (Counterplan to the Proposal for Legislation Concerning the Ainu People). Kaizawa told us he bitterly remembers the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo when an NHK television announcer said, “It’s been one hundred years since Japanese pioneers came to this no-man’s land.” Koichi snorted. "Until a few years ago, Japan was telling the world they didn’t have any ethnic minorities. But we have been making progress slowly but surely. I think we have had an impact. Once there is recognition of Ainu, Japan has to recognize other ethnic groups." In August 1987 the Utari Association delivered a paper to the United Nations in Geneva. In it they asked the U.N. to investigate their situation as an indigenous and ethnic minority within Japan, stressing the following three points: 1. Despite the “assimilation policy” as rendered by the Japanese government, we, the Ainu, have maintained our ethnicity as indigenous people in Japan. We have the “right of self-determination.” 2. We, the Ainu, have our culture, religion, and customs which no one can violate. The Ainu have never given up these rights. Thus, the Ainu still firmly possess the rights of culture, religion, language, and customs. 3. The Ainu have the right to demand the establishment of a “New Act” which should replace the discriminatory “Hokkaido Former Aborigines Protection Act.” Another achievement of Tadashi Kaizawa’s was his trip to China to obtain recognition of the existence of the Ainu as an ethnic group within Japan. He managed to get an invitation from the Chinese government for an Ainu delegation. Koichi Kaizawa added, "During the eighteen years since the first visit, we have been invited three times, and sixteen Ainu have visited the country. In his will, my father instructed that we go to China and officially thank them on his behalf. I did that this year." What Tadashi Kaizawa, his son, and their fellow Ainu saw on their visits influenced them greatly; in the Chinese system, small ethnic groups have a guaranteed place. The Ainu suddenly had a broader perspective. Like aboriginal people in North America, the Ainu community had a range of views about their relationship with the dominant society. Some would like to separate completely, demanding land and political autonomy over it. At the other end of the spectrum are many who have already assimilated and disappeared into the Japanese mainstream. Kaizawa told us how the visits to China had affected him. 「When I went to China 16 years ago, I had a separatist view and expressed it. One Chinese official said to me, “I understand you want independence, but after you get it, what happens then? It might cause a 3rd world war. Hokkaido being such a hotspot, the Chinese, Russians, and Americans won’t be silent. You can imagine what might happen. Do you still want independence?” And I had to say no. The Chinese man said, “Wouldn’t you prefer establishing rights and then peacefully coexist with Japan?”」 Koichi's motivation had always been anger and a desire for a place where the Ainu could be left alone to live their lives and practise their culture. That did not change. He was still angry about the way the Ainu have been treated, but his approach became more moderate and rational. "The highest goal would be an autonomous state within Japan. I understand the Japanese cannot accept the idea that we would take all of Hokkaido and that the Japanese would have to leave. Although we say clearly that northern Honshu, Hokkaido, and the Kuriles were once our territory, we do not tell Japanese to go away. We want to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Taking up arms will just make enemies. We prefer to talk, and that’s more appropriate because it’s part of Ainu tradition called ukocharanke." Kayano explained to us the meaning of the term ukocharanke: Uko means “mutually,” and charanke means “to let words fall”; the compound word ukocharanke thus refers to the Ainu custom of settling differences by arguing exhaustively. It also implies that the Ainu do not solve disputes by violence. Charanke requires the talent to argue with logic and the physical strength to sit in debate for days. Kaizawa continued: "I understand the Ainu world is evaporating quickly. We are now witnessing the last generation of Ainu. Their rich cultural background is dying out. In the meantime Japanese scholars have been collecting material about Ainu. When we are ready, we will be able to get it back with the help of the Japanese knowledge of Ainu culture. It’s sad but that’s the reality. First Ainu must know what being Ainu means. And then we must have the Japanese recognize the Ainu as indigenous people."
December 2, 2025 at 8:51 AM
kaihat.su
Yeah, I was aware of this and am not surprised. Since the acquisition was announced I was expecting that things would get worse for Japanese customers that stuck with Fontworks as it was subsumed into Monotype.
Good opportunity for their Japanese competitors to step in.
December 1, 2025 at 7:09 PM
kaihat.su
Not often you see any mention of Burakumin, Japan's former "outcastes" in English-language media, but perhaps one of the most prominent examples is from the series House MD.

House recalls an encounter with a Buraku person in Japan during his youth when explaining why he wanted to become a doctor.
November 30, 2025 at 6:59 AM
kaihat.su
Twitter went wild over this so I might as well share it here too.
Though it's more accurate to say that the Century part is in TT-JTCウインM9P which probably bootlegged its Latin glyphs from Century (which used to happen a lot with Japanese typefaces).
A screenshot showing a title card from TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion with three labels showing what parts are written with which typeface. The top, "NEON GENESIS EVANGELION" is annotated "Century". The middle "EPISODE: 12" is labelled Helvetica The bottom She said, "Don't make others suffer for your personal hatred." is annotated Times.
November 27, 2025 at 11:54 PM
kaihat.su
The Hokkaido Museum in Sapporo is hosting an exhibition of newly acquired materials, including items related to Ainu language researcher Mashiho Chiri (1909–1961). Also on display is a New Year's card sent to Chiri in 1956 by Ainu poet and fabric artist Shizue Ukaji (92) from Shiraoi.
知里真志保の交友　書簡でたどる　北海道博物館で企画展　宇梶静江さん年賀状も：北海道新聞デジタル
北海道博物館（札幌市厚別区）が近年寄贈を受けたアイヌ語研究者知里真志保（1909～61年）ゆかりの資料などを展示する新着資料・研究成果展が、同館で開かれている。アイヌ民族の詩人で古布絵作家の宇梶静江さ...
www.hokkaido-np.co.jp
November 25, 2025 at 12:08 AM
kaihat.su
Twitter just added the ability to see where people are based, so the obvious has finally been confirmed: This idiot is not Japanese, and is LARPing out of the UK.
He is of course doubling down by saying that he is "currently on holiday in Europe" lol
A screenshot of the Twitter page of "Colonel Otaku Gatekeeper", shopwing that he joined in 2017 from somewhere in Europe, that the account is based in Europe, and that he connected to Twitter via an App Store in Europe. Twitter users have the option to either display their country, or the region of the World in which the country is - many grifting accounts who are pretending to be somewhere else are trying to use the "region" setting instead of "specific country" to obscure what country they are really operating out of.
November 24, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Reposted by Daniel Kaihatsu (開発 妥仁得)
kaihat.su
This year, a total of four new Ainu artisans from Biratori were officially certified as Masters of Traditional Crafts for carving Nibutani Ita, wooden trays with Ainu patterns registered as one of two traditional Japanese crafts from Hokkaido.

www.nibutani-ainucraft.com/en/informati...
In 2025, Four Nibutani Ita Woodcarving Artisans Certified as Masters of Traditional Crafts | NIBUTANI AINU CRAFT
n February 2025, four Nibutani Ita woodcarving artisans were officially certified as Masters of Traditional Crafts, a qualification gra...
www.nibutani-ainucraft.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:50 AM
kaihat.su
This year, a total of four new Ainu artisans from Biratori were officially certified as Masters of Traditional Crafts for carving Nibutani Ita, wooden trays with Ainu patterns registered as one of two traditional Japanese crafts from Hokkaido.

www.nibutani-ainucraft.com/en/informati...
In 2025, Four Nibutani Ita Woodcarving Artisans Certified as Masters of Traditional Crafts | NIBUTANI AINU CRAFT
n February 2025, four Nibutani Ita woodcarving artisans were officially certified as Masters of Traditional Crafts, a qualification gra...
www.nibutani-ainucraft.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:50 AM
kaihat.su
I'll be honest I'm getting a bit tired of social media. That's why I've not been as active recently.
November 19, 2025 at 3:31 AM
kaihat.su
I’m confused as to why a post I made four months ago is getting attention, but sure ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
November 16, 2025 at 3:21 PM
kaihat.su
Here’s a new one. Got a message from a Japanese person recently who knew I spoke English, Japanese & Arabic but instead of writing in Japanese or English they… tried to use machine translated Arabic.

Guessing this is another weird manifestation of Japanese attempts at politeness but come on 🤣
kaihat.su Daniel Kaihatsu (開発 妥仁得) @kaihat.su · Feb 5
There’s times in Japan when you have to pick your battles.

> Fill out a company’s contact form in Japanese
> Reply in broken English
> I reply in Japanese
> They reply in English again

More convenient to speak Japanese as I’m pretty sure my Japanese is better than your English, but if you insist 🫠
November 16, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Reposted by Daniel Kaihatsu (開発 妥仁得)
kaihat.su
Ainu on UK TV: Traditional Ainu medicine was featured on the most recent episode of "Worlds Apart", a British reality series on Channel 4 that pairs young people with pensioners for a treasure hunt across Japan.

In the episode, one pair learns about traditional remedies from an Ainu individual.
November 12, 2025 at 9:25 AM
kaihat.su
Ainu on UK TV: Traditional Ainu medicine was featured on the most recent episode of "Worlds Apart", a British reality series on Channel 4 that pairs young people with pensioners for a treasure hunt across Japan.

In the episode, one pair learns about traditional remedies from an Ainu individual.
November 12, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Reposted by Daniel Kaihatsu (開発 妥仁得)
charlescmann.bsky.social
US-Japan research team finds suggestive similarities between pre-Clovis stone-tool styles in North America and 20K-yr-old tools in north Japan--hinting that the ppl in Hokkaido may have been the origins of the ppl who were all over North America by ~16K yrs ago.
Characterizing the American Upper Paleolithic
Tool similarities link Late Pleistocene American and Northeast Asian lithic traditions.
www.science.org
November 11, 2025 at 3:17 PM