A bill was passed back in April 2019 in Japan that recognizes the Ainu as indigenous to Japan. The Ainu were also known to live in parts of Russia but mostly in Hokkaido. There used to be an Ainu cultural museum located in Japan that has since closed. The disappearance of the Ainu may have been caused by cultural integration.

According to the Endangered Languages Project, there are only 2 native Ainu speakers left in the world. As trade began between the Ainu and Japanese in the 15th, many conflicts emerged between the 2 groups. In 1899, the Japanese began to assimilate the Ainu into the wider culture through the Hokkaido Former Aborigines Protection Act. The Ainu lost most of their land and were coerced into speaking Japanese. This pressure most likely resulted in the loss of the language.

With the advent of this bill , however, the Ainu culture has the opportunity to be preserved. There are still about 13,000 known Ainu in Japan, but researchers say this number may be higher.

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Sources: Ainu, the Endangered Languages Project. Accessed on April, 27th, 2020. http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/1212

Jozuka, E (2019). Japan's 'vanishing' Ainu will finally be recognized as indigenous people. Accessed on April 27th, 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/20/asia/japan-ainu-indigenous-peoples-bill-intl/index.html

the ainu population was indeed small, Hokkaido was very sparsely populated during most of history, it wouldn't industrialise until after the samurai republic of Ezo was annexed by the empire of Japan in 1869

after that, lots of japanese settlers began to arrive at Hokkaido, that combined with an education system that focused on cultural unity and assimilation of minorities, are probably the factors which led to the near extinction of the ainu