Human Right Issues on the Ainu People in Japan: Their
Social and Cultural Development through Overcoming the Social
Prejudice and Discrimination
YUZURU YOKOYAMA, Ph.D. Professor, School of Social Welfare,
Hokusei Gakuen University, Sapporo, JAPAN
Abstract
This study aims to analyze the issues of social justice and
human rights among Ainu people in Japan. In addition, the aim of
this presentation is to address the possible solution for meeting
social needs of the Ainu people. The methodology for this research
is the literature review. The Ainu people are indigenous people and
ethnic minority in Hokkaido Island, the most northern island of
Japan. The Ainu people have been historically discriminated against
by the Japanese people. And they have been also exploited
economically and politically by the Japanese. Even now, they are
occasionally neglected and ignored by the insensible Japanese
politicians and ordinary citizens. Although the Ainu people in
Hokkaido appeared to be somehow assimilated and integrated into the
mainstream of the Japanese society, their special societal needs
such as the security for income, job, education, housing,
employment, and social services are overlooked, neglected and
underserved. The Japanese government has not yet established social
support network system for the Ainu people and not offered adequate
social assistance for them. At this moment, the main task of the
Japanese government regarding the Ainu policy is to preserve their
unique culture in general.
In my presentation, I would like to address the brief historical
overview of the Ainu people and their special societal needs
related to the social justice and human rights issues. In addition,
I would like to analyze the social circumstances of Ainu people
such as the social policy, social systems and social services for
the Ainu people. Furthermore, I would like to propose a feasible
way for meeting the societal needs of the Ainu people. As an
outcome of my research, I would like to recommend the Japanese
government establish and facilitate the comprehensive social
support network system for the Ainu people in order to fulfill
their unmet societal needs by empowering them.
In conclusion, I would like to propose for organizing the social
support network system for the Ainu people. So, the Ainu people
will be able to obtain the necessary social assistance and support.
The recognition of the social status and social condition among the
Ainu people must be paid to an attention in order to improve their
living conditions, social status and quality of life.
I. The brief historical review of the discrimination against the
Ainu people
At the end of the 12th century, the Ainu people were appeared in
the history of Japan. Since then, the Ainu people have started
trading with the Japanese people.
In the Meiji period(1868～1912), the Japanese government forced
the Ainu people to assimilate into the mainstream of the Japanese
society. In addition, the Japanese government pushed the Ainu
people to acculturate into the mainstream of the Japanese culture
then.
For example, the Japanese government set up the educational
policy toward the Ainu children. The government established the
separate school for Ainu children exclusively. And they were forced
not to speak the Ainu language at school in order to make them to
learn and speak the Japanese language as early as possible. And the
Japanese teachers encouraged the Ainu parents to speak the Japanese
to their children at home and encouraged them not speaking the Ainu
language at home.
For another example, the Japanese government forced the Ainu
people to change their name into the Japanese name in order to
assimilate the Ainu people into the Japanese society. Furthermore,
the Ainu people had a limited opportunity to choose their own
career except for farmers due to their poor economic and
educational conditions. They were also forbidden to catch the
salmon and hunt the deer and bear freely in order to help them in
making a living under the Hokkaido Indigenous People
Law.????
As a result, the Japanese government had facilitated the
declination of the Ainu language as well as the Ainu culture. The
Ainu people have been stigmatized as the second citizen by the
Japanese and they have been stereotyped as a primitive native
people in Hokkaido Island.
The Japanese government in the Meiji era established the
Hokkaido Indigenous People Law(1889) in order to legitimize in
providing the limited land space for the Ainu people for farming.
However, this law eventually forced the Ainu people to give up
their native land. This law also has legitimized in taking away the
original land from the Ainu people. Some Ainu people were forced to
move into the deserted place due to the cultivation of the
primitive land for the social and economic development in Hokkaido.
The Ainu people have been forced to submit this sort of inhumane,
insensitive and discriminatory law up to the recent. The Ainu
people have felt them as being an inferior ethnic minority compared
to the ordinary Japanese people.
Ⅱ. The Challenge for Obtaining the Human Rights and Establishing
the Social Justice for the Ainu People
In 1930, The Ainu people established their own association (The
Hokkaido Ainu Association) in order to improve their living
conditions by themselves. This association organized the social
action to cause the social change for respecting the human dignity
of the Ainu people and improving their social condition by changing
the social policy toward the Ainu people. The Ainu people who live
in the Nibutani area in Hokkaido have opposed for constructing the
new water reservoir in their community and made the Hokkaido
prefecture government to stop the new contraction. In 1984, the
Hokkaido Ainu Association has organized the social action to
abolish the Hokkaido Indigenous People Law and proposed the Ainu
New Law to promote their human rights and seek the social justice
for them. For example, in this law, the Japanese government
officially has to admit the Ainu people as a native ethnic minority
group which has a unique culture. The Japanese government also has
to respect for the human dignity of the Ainu people and secure
their human rights. In 1991, the Japanese government officially
admitted the Ainu people as a native ethnic minority in Japan. In
1997, the Japanese Diet accepted the Ainu New Law and this law
enacted in 1998.
The Six Point of the New Ainu Law
1.??? The Basic Human Rights---the
opposition against the any discrimination against the ethnic
minority group
2.??? The Rights for Participating the
Politics---the rights for sending the political delegate at both
local and central politic arena???
3.??? Education and Culture---the security
for the opportunity to learn the Ainu language and participate the
Ainu cultural activities
4.??? Agriculture, Fishing, Foresting, and
Merchant---the promotion for the better living among the Ainu
people by helping them to be independent socially and
economically
5.??? Providing Funds for the Self-help and
the Self-determination of their Human Rights---Obtaining the funds
for increasing the self-help and independence for their
self-determination
6.??? Establishing the Advisory
Committee---Reflecting the social needs among the Ainu people at
the political arena both locally and nationally. Sending the Ainu
delegate into the local and central politics to put the Ainu
perspective
III. Propose for building the social support network system for
the Ainu People
1.??? Strengthening the informal social
support network for the Ainu People---establishing a community
center for the Ainu people to organize their volunteer activities
and social services.
2.?Strengthening the Ainu community and
organization---establishing the self-help organization to enhance
their cultural activities and their social activities.
3.??? Building the funds for education, job
training, the career development, and the better housing conditions
for the Ainu people---putting the fund for providing the
educational, occupational, living assistance for them.
4.??? Building the national organization
for promoting for understanding the Ainu people and learning the
Ainu culture and language---building the national center and museum
for the Ainu people to assist the Japanese to learn Ainu language
and culture.
5.??? Facilitating the cultural exchange
among the ethnic minority and promoting the human rights and social
justice in the world---building the international organization to
organize the international exchange programs and promote the study
and the research for human rights and social justice issues
concerning the ethnic minority in the world.
6.??? Setting up the new educational
policy---promoting the bilingualism education and enlightening the
Ainu culture and promoting for learning the history of the Ainu
people.
7.??? Establishing the law for
anti-discrimination---promoting the human rights among the ethnic
minority and stopping the discrimination against the oppressed and
disadvantaged population.
(China.org.cn)