Asia Times: Ainu discrimination defies the law


	May 19, 2000	atimes.com

Japan

Ainu discrimination defies the law
By Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO - The Ainu, Japan's indigenous people, are complaining of growing discrimination despite a landmark law enacted in 1997 that for the first time recognizes their culture as unique and officially promotes their rights.

In a recent interview, 51-year-old Kazuyuki Yamamura, chairman of the Ainu Museum in Hokkaido, said many Ainu people do not want to reveal their identity despite the new law because they still fear, and experience, discrimination.

A survey conducted in October by the Hokkaido government revealed that 12.4 percent of Ainu had faced discrimination, such as being rejected by potential marriage partners. This figure shows an increase of 5.1 percentage from the previous survey in 1993. As many as 15.7 percent of the people questioned also said they had heard of other Ainu people suffering discrimination, a rise of 5.6 percent.

Ainu are the original people to have inhabited Hokkaido, formerly called Yezo (Ainu Island). There are currently 25,000 Ainu living in Hokkaido, according to government surveys. While they are physically similar to the largely homogenous Japanese, their thick beards and hairyness mark them apart and have made them targets for ridicule. Marriage with other Japanese is a problem and access to jobs are often difficult.

The new law is considered a major departure from old policies that governed the indigenous people. It replaces the 1899 Hokkaido Former Aborigine Protection Law, which supported the total assimilation of the Ainu into mainstream Japan through farming and Japanese education. Under the law, the Japanese government disbursed grants in the form of cash, tracts of land and other payments to the Ainu communities in the name of development. However such assets were never given directly to the Ainu people and were instead managed as ''Ainu common properties'' by the Hokkaido prefecture government.

Severe criticism of the law by the Ainu, international pressure led by the United Nations Human Rights Committee that recognizes the rights of indigenous people, and the support of other Aboriginal groups around the world has helped improve the situation. ''The UN has spearheaded much needed change in Japan by forcing the Japanese government to recognize the rights of the Ainu,'' says Yoshihito Yoshida, head of the Ainu Culture Exchange Center, set up for the expansion of Ainu culture.

Yoshida, himself an Ainu, says that despite continued discrimination, the new law is important because it recognizes the rights of indigenous people of Japan. ''Japanese politicians have repeatedly said that Japan is a homogenous culture, virtually ignoring our existence. Now the law has changed the situation.'' Yoshida says the next step is to educate the Japanese about Ainu culture and then push for better recognition and protection of their human rights. ''A big problem is that the majority of Japanese have not even heard of us. It is only by raising consciousness can we then press our case for total equality,'' he says.

Indeed the foundation, with the Hokkaido government's financial backing, broadcasts Ainu-language lessons on the radio, provides cultural classes in which elderly Ainu teach native epic poetry, and organizes Ainu festivals. It even advises the Education Ministry on a new curriculum for primary and junior-high schools that will teach Ainu history. For the first time in history, the Japanese court allowed the use of the Ainu language in trial in October 1999 as stipulated by the new law. ''The change is quite amazing,'' says Yoshida. ''After dealing with the painful past, we now are seeing a new road ahead.''

A major battle ahead is regaining traditional land and assets taken away from the Ainu. A group of Ainu filed a lawsuit two years ago to halt a plan to return their land by the Hokkaido government, which they say have been woefully undervalued. The Hokkaido government plans to return the assets in the form of cash valued at 1.3 million yen ($14,300). The Ainu say they want their land returned, pointing out that fishing and living with nature was the basis of their lifestyle until they were forced to begin farming.

They also want the government to explicitly designate the Ainu as a legal aboriginal minority in Japan, as part of the UN human rights principles.

Professor Mutsuo Nakamura of Hokkaido University says that discrimination forces the Aimu to conceal their roots and identity, but that things are starting to change. The younger generation of Ainu are now keen to discover their origins, he observes.

Yuuki Hasegawa, 23, is one such person. She says her father did not reveal his Ainu roots to her and it was only after she turned 20 that she began to search for her identity. ''I now take classes in Ainu singing and story telling. I am proud of being Ainu,'' she says.

(Inter Press Service)

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