Olympic-Sized Racism Aug 21, 2008
Very few of the "primitives" had any interest in participating in an amateur competition: The Ainu people of Japan might have stooped to climb trees for fair-goers, but that was because they got paid for it. Some, too, seemed to balk because they thought the Olympic sports were ridiculous. (Slate)
Rebirth of a nation Jul 20, 2008
an Ainu woman takes part in a traditional salmon ceremony ... A forgotten people, the Ainu of Hokkaido, and their culture have finally received recognition by Japan ... For centuries the Ainu had lived on Japan's northernmost islands, calling their home Ainu Mosir, or Land of Human Beings. (Sydney Morning Herald -- World)
Recognition for a people who faded as Japan grew Jul 3, 2008
Yasuko Yamamichi, who runs an Ainu language school, scoffed at the "empty" recognition of the Ainu as an indigenous people ... The Ainu had lived on Japan's northernmost island for centuries, calling their home Ainu Mosir, or Land of Human Beings ... Japanese settlers decimated the Ainu population, seized their land and renamed it Hokkaido, or North Sea Road. (International Herald Tribune)
Japan's Ainu hope new identity leads to more rights Jun 9, 2008
Native: Saki Toyama wants an official Japanese apology to the Ainu people to follow the parliament's resolution recognizing the group as an indigenous people ... URAKAWA, JAPAN - While Friday's parliamentary decision to recognize the ethnic Ainu as Japan's indigenous people is a major step for a country long proud of being ethnically homogeneous, for many members of the long-discriminated-against minority it's not enough ... "I'm glad to learn the resolution," says Saki Toyama, an 80-year-old... (Christian Science Monitor)
Vote takes step towards ending discrimination Jun 7, 2008
JAPAN'S parliament has called for the Ainu ethnic group to be identified as an indigenous people in a non-binding resolution that recognises more than a century of discrimination. The Ainu, thought to be descendants of early inhabitants of Japan and possessing a distinct culture and language, were once forced to change their names and banned from traditional hunting as part of an assimilation policy ... "I'm so happy It seems like Japan has finally entered the century of human rights," Tadashi... (Sydney Morning Herald -- World)
Parliament Recognizes Hokkaido Ainu as Indigenous to End Discrimination Jun 6, 2008
Japan's Parliament Recognizes Ainu as Indigenous People ... June 6 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese lawmakers passed a resolution in parliament today to recognize the Ainu people as indigenous to Japan and urge an end to discrimination against the group who mostly live in Hokkaido ... Japan's Meiji Government included Hokkaido as part of Japan more than a century ago, forcing the Ainu people to become Japanese citizens. (Bloomberg -- Japan)
Rooney is 'bad example' for youth Jun 6, 2008
Page last updated at 18:26 GMT, Thursday, 5 June 2008 19:26 UK. Rooney is 'bad example' for youth. (BBC News)
Japan officially recognizes Ainu as indigenous people for first time Jun 6, 2008
TOKYO (AP): Japan's parliament voted Friday to recognize the Ainu ethnic group as the country's indigenous people for the first time and urged steps to reverse a century of discrimination and poverty ... It follows a law passed in 1997 that promoted Ainu culture and language but stopped short of bestowing indigenous status ... "This is a first step toward improvement in areas such as education ... and financial restitution,'' said Teruki Tsunemoto, director of the Center for Ainu and Indigenous... (The Star Online, Malaysia -- News)
Recognition at last Jun 6, 2008
The Ainu have lived in Hokkaido for hundreds of years ... It meant "Land of the Ainu", a reference to the fair-skinned, long-haired people who had lived there for hundreds of years ... The Ainu were hunters and fishermen with animist beliefs. (BBC News -- Asia-Pacific)
Despite free land, no cry of northward ho in Japan Jun 3, 2008
For centuries, the island was inhabited only by Ainu, an indigenous group, and was too cold to grow rice ... The Hokkaido Colonization Board was established in 1869, guiding the migration of Japanese who displaced the Ainu and leading to the island's acquisition by Japan. (International Herald Tribune)
Exchange offers immersion into Japan's Ainu culture Apr 18, 2008
In June a contingent of Kauai residents bent on learning something of Japan s native people, the Ainu, will travel for two weeks on Hokkaido ... His intent is not only to build a bridge between the cultures, but to explore tolerance, compassion, simplified living and common denominators shared between Native Hawaiians and Ainu ... Ainu means the first people, said Puna Palama-Dawson, who has joined Fujimori on many trips to the island. (Lihue Garden Island, HA)
Another facet of the crystal Apr 3, 2008
but never exhibited, a multicoloured devil mask used in a Bolivian Easter carnival, a pointy-breasted female costume that would have been worn by a young man during an initiation ritual in Angola, and salmon-skin winter shoes once worn by the Ainu, an aboriginal people in Japan. ROM president William Thorsell said yesterday that the new gallery represents the institution's commitment to genuinely be the universal museum dictated by its joint mandate of world cultures and natural history. (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
Ainu and Alaska: Distant cultures linked through art Oct 15, 2007
Though made thousands of miles apart, the white-on-black palette and symmetrical design on the Ainu kimono reflects a Tlingit button blanket from Southeast Alaska ... Ainu and Alaska: Distant cultures linked through art ... A rare exhibit of Ainu art and craft opened in the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center last week. (Anchorage Daily News)
Rarified light Oct 5, 2007
Kimonos, sword hangers, tools and other objects from day-to-day life convey the culture of the Ainu people of Japan in the exhibit "Ainu Ramati (Soul of the Ainu): Art and Craft of Northern Japan," showing at the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center this month. The Ainu are the indigenous people of the island of Hokkaido who were overtaken by Japan and prohibited from following their traditions ... Ainu basketry and mat making share elements found in Yup'ik styles of weaving, for example. (Anchorage Daily News)
Japanese tattoo art carves its mark in the mainstream Sep 8, 2007
The craft that Horitoku practices traces its roots all the way back to Japan's indigenous Ainu people, but it was taken up by the mainstream populace during the Edo Period (1603-1867) particularly among courtesans, laborers such as firemen, carpenters and gamblers. From the middle of the Edo Period, criminals were also marked by the authorities with bands of ink, and they would have these obscured with patterns that came to be known as irezumi (inserting ink). (News on Japan, Japan)
The Ainu and Japanese Modernity Jul 4, 2007
How Japan's quest for modernity and uniformity has almost eradicated the Ainu peoples of the Hokkaido. The Ainu are Japan's dirty secret ... Ainu Moshir included most of the Hokkaido until the mid 19th century, when Ainu social, economic, cultural and linguistic independence was subsumed by a mythological beast. (Suite101.com)
Should I have called police? Apr 18, 2007
Does Japan s treatment of the Ainu negate Japan s right to enforce its immigration laws ... Well since states didn t even exist when my family came to what would become the US, under international law, the US at the time would be considered unclaimed territory and in any event as I said just because the US drove the natives off the land (as did the Japanese with the Ainu and the Chinese with the Yuanzumin in Taiwan, etc) doesn t negate Japan, Taiwan or the US from enforcing its immigration laws.... (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Blue eyes, blond hair: that's US problem, says minister Mar 23, 2007
He later angered Japan's indigenous Ainu population by describing the country as unique in being "one nation, one civilisation, one language, one culture and one race". While economics minister, he said he wanted to turn Japan into a country where "rich Jews" would want to live. (Guardian Unlimited -- World)
World Briefings: Insular power poses unique issues on bias Mar 9, 2007
I also met the Ainu, [indigenous people living mostly on Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island] and learned how they tried to save their identity and were facing different forms of discrimination ... It is clear that the history of discrimination against the Burakumin and the Ainu has been profoundly related with the history of Japanese feudal society and Japan's history ... The Ainu and the Burakumin are absent in national history. (Washington Times, DC)
