Indigenous people of Japan start activities in new university (4)
I believe the answer is:
ainu
'indigenous people of japan' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'start activities in new university' is the wordplay.
'start' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letters of 'activities in new university' is 'AINU'.
(Other definitions for ainu that I've seen before include "language" , "Big Oriental" , "aborigines" , "Japanese person" .)