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Japan's post-war Ainu policy. Why the Japanese Government has not recognised Ainu indigenous rights?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 September 2012

Hiroshi Maruyama
Hiroshi Maruyama*
Affiliation:
Muroran Institute of Technology, 050-8585 Mizumoto 27-1, Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan ([email protected])
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Abstract

In 1946, the Ainu Association of Hokkaido was established by the Ainu to reclaim their lands. The 1970s and 80s saw that the association successfully put pressure on the Hokkaido Prefectural Government to take social welfare measures for the improvement of their life and make a new law counter to the Hokkaido Former Aborigines Protection Act. In 1997 the Japanese Government enacted the so-called New Ainu Law. However, it is totally different from the original draft made by the Ainu. The law does not designate the Ainu as indigenous people. Further, it is outstripped by the decision of Nibutani Dam Case that, for the first time in Japanese history, recognised Ainu right to culture and indigenousness in Japanese territory. In 2008 the Japanese Government finally recognised the Ainu as indigenous people in the wake of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. However, the Ainu do not yet have any indigenous rights. This note chronologically outlines Japan's post-war Ainu policy, and moreover explores who and what has influenced Ainu policy and the law.

Type
Note
Information
Polar Record , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , April 2013 , pp. 204 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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