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Japan expected to recognize Ainu as indigenous people

Japan is set to recognize the Ainu people as indigenous inhabitants of northern Japan, a newspaper reported yesterday.

Japan’s parliament is expected to adopt a resolution to urge the government to promote support for the ethnically distinct people who have long faced discrimination, the Asahi Shimbun said.

The resolution to be submitted jointly by ruling and opposition lawmakers stipulates the Ainu “are indigenous people with their original language, religious and culture,” it said.

The move comes ahead of this year’s G8 summit on the northern island of Hokkaido, home to most of an estimated 70,000 Ainu.

HISTORY

The Ainu are believed to have first formed their society around the 13th century mainly in Hokkaido, extending to the Kurils and Sakhalin islands.

The animist Ainu, who are fairer and more hirsute than Japanese, historically lived on hunting and salmon fishing.

Japanese gradually settled Hokkaido and in 1899 enacted the Hokkaido Former Aborigines Act, under which the Ainu were forced to give up their land, language and traditions and shift from their hunting-based lifestlye to farming.

LEGISLATION

The act was repealed only in 1997 and replaced by legislation calling for protection of Ainu traditions and “respect for the dignity of Ainu people.”

But the law stopped short of recognizing the Ainu as indigenous or, as some activists have demanded, setting up autonomous areas along the lines of Native American reservations in the US.

The Ainu remain among the poorest people in Japan with only 17 percent graduating from college, half the national average, according to a survey conducted by the Utari Association, which campaigns for Ainu rights.
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