February 12, 2023
THIS WEEK IN HUMAN RIGHTS NEWS
Japan’s museum for Indigenous Ainu culture ignores human rights issues still faced today
Sources: Lifegate, CNN, Minority Rights, BBC, Equal Times
Japan has opened The Upopoy National Ainu Museum or the ‘Symbolic Space for Ethnic Harmony’, dedicated to promoting history and culture of the Ainu - an Indigenous people who mostly reside in the island of Hokkaido.
The Ainu have faced centuries of colonialism, assimilation, and discriminatory policies. During the Meiji period (1868-1912), the Japanese government had direct administrative control over the Ainu and their land.
This resulted in the “legal eradication of all Ainu land rights” and making their traditional forms of livelihood (fishing and hunting) illegal. During this period, Hokkaido also experienced an influx of ethnic Japanese settling on the island.
Forced to assimilate to Japanese culture, many Ainu decided to hide their ancestry, making it very difficult to get an accurate picture of the number of Ainu today.
In April 2019, the Japanese government passed the “Ainu Recognition Bill”, the first legal acknowledgement of the Ainu as the indigenous people of Japan, with their own language, beliefs and customs.
However, this bill has failed to provide the Ainu with clear and strong legal rights to land, fishing, and hunting. “Ainu activists indicate that recognition of indigeneity must go hand in hand with granting of legal rights”, reports Lifegate.
“The Ainu still cannot fish their salmon and dams are still being built that submerge sacred sites,” said Professor Kunihiko Yoshida, law professor at Hokkaido University to the BBC. “There’s no self-determination, no collective rights and no reparations. It’s just a cultural performance.”
The bill is also criticised for not having consulted Ainu groups when being drafted, and for the lack of responsibility taken by the Japanese government.
The Upopoy and the Japanese government have also received criticism for their static and commercialised portrayal of the Ainu, as well as the Museum’s memorial site hosting a collection of excavated Ainu human remains taken from burial sites.
According to Lifegate, over 1,600 human remains have been excavated from burial sites across Hokkaido, primarily for research purposes. This was done without obtaining the free, prior and informed consent from Ainu communities. “In the build-up to the opening of the museum, Ainu people were given the chance to apply for the ancestral repatriation of the exhumed remains, with all those left unclaimed to be moved to the Upopoy.”
The opening of the national museum has been criticised for continuing to dismiss the input of actual Ainu community members when it comes to their rights and culture.
“It has no soul,” 87-year-old artist Shizue Ukaji told Equal Times. “If the Japanese government wants to use the term ‘ethnic harmony’ [in the museum] it is requested that the government make a formal apology to us Ainu for the historical injustices imposed on us.”