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Arguments concerning the Ainu Policy Promotion Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples By Yuko Osakada, Chuo Law School. Discusses the Ainu Policy Promotion Act of 2019. Chuo University, 2022.
Indigenous peoples in Japan "The two indigenous peoples of Japan, the Ainu and the Okinawans, live on the northernmost and southernmost islands of the country’s archipelago." International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs.
Charanke Matsuri: "The festival ties the earth to the heavens. The dance connects people to the universe". The Charanke Festival is a major event bringing together the Ainu and Okinawan communities in Tokyo. It all started more than 20 years ago from a connection between an Ainu and Okinawan feeling a sense of kinship, and developed into the event it is today. More info here.
Ainu An overview from the Minority Rights Group that gives a profile of the Ainu people, and looks at their historical situation and the current issues they face.
Recognition at last for Japan's Ainu Japan's parliament is to adopt a resolution that, for the first time, formally recognises the Ainu as "an indigenous people with a distinct language, religion and culture". BBC News, 2008/06/06.
Oki Official Website Website for Oki, a musician with a Japanese mother and Ainu father and his Oki Dub Ainu Band that plays music that fuses Reggae, African music and Electronica with Ainu folk melodies.
Japan's Ainu This video documentary looks at, "Japan's indigenous people and their fight for cultural survival and acceptance. Over the last century, they have seen their traditions and their language stripped away, along with their ancestral lands. But after generations of oppression, racism and forced assimilation, change is in the air for the Ainu." Aljazeera, 4 Feb 2010.
Young Ainu people used to face an identity crisis but many are able to walk out of the shadow of hiding their ethnic background. Now they are willing to present their traditional dances and singing their own songs. TITV Weekly, 27 Aug, 2008.
Japan's indigenous Ainu battle for return of ancestors "Japan's long marginalised and little known indigenous people, the Ainu, are engaged in a protracted and symbolic struggle to have the remains of their ancestors brought home." New Zealand Herald, 2 Jun, 2013
A Cultural Revival: The spirit of Japan's Ainu artists A longer article about various kinds of Ainu cultural revitalisation and experimentation, including the woodblock prints of Koji Yuki, the Ainu Arts Project - an Ainu rock band, Oki Kanno and his Dub Band, Mina Sakai and the Ainu rebels, Sayo Ogasawara's picture books, and Shizue Ukaji's embroidery. 26 Feb, 2010, Wall Street Journal.
Ainu Living in Tokyo - Getting To Know the Indigenous People of Japan by Osamu Hasegawa "The Japanese government colonized places where the Ainu traditionally lived, and positioned them as an extinct ethnic group. I believe that the lack of awareness regarding the Ainu is the result of an intentional effort." Japan for Sustainability, 24 Dec 2009.
Akan Kotan Ainu Village This is the largest Ainu community in Hokkaido with 130 in 36 households. The village has Ainu folk art stores and restaurants, and at the Onne Chise at the center of the village, visitors can watch ancient Ainu dance and listen to performances of the traditional Ainu music.
Ainu Museum This museum introduces Ainu history and culture.
Ainu Utari Renrakukai - organises Charanke Matsuri
Ainu Associations in Greater Tokyo An overview of some Ainu organisations and events in the Tokyo area.
Siddle, M. R. (2009) ‘The Ainu: Indigenous people of Japan’, in M. Weiner, (Ed). Japan's minorities: the illusion of homogeneity. 2nd Edition. London: Routledge. Available from: Chuo Library 開架 301.45/J35.
Siddle R. (1997). 'Ainu: Japan's indigenous people', in M. Weiner (Ed). Japan's minorities: the illusion of homogeneity. 1st Edition. London: Routledge. Available from: Chuo Library 総合政策 301.45/J35 & Mike.
The Ainu and Their Culture: A Critical Twenty-First Century Assessment An interview with Chisato ("Kitty") O. Dubreuil, an Ainu-Japanese art historian, who co-organised, the groundbreaking 1999 Smithsonian exhibition on Ainu culture at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, in the United States. She talks about both traditional and contemporary Ainu culture and artistic production. Asia Pacific Journal, Japan Focus, Nov 26, 2007.
After the Ainu Shinpō: The United Nations and the Indigenous People of Japan by Crystal Porter. New Voices In Japanese Studies, 2008.
Australian National University This article explores the significance of indigenous rights in Japan and how the Japanese Government uses the guise [strategy] of upholding individual rights to ignore indigenous rights in Japan.
Toward Ainu- and Japan-Specific Indigenous Policies, Teruki Tsunemoto, LL.D., Center for Ainu & Indigenous Studies Hokkaido University, Japan A presentation which discusses different definitions of indigenous people as well as Japanese government policy towards Ainu people.
The Plight of Ainu, Indigenous People of Japan by Mitsuharu Vincent Okada "This article describes the systematic introduction of policies (of forced assimilation and discrimination), which endangered the survival of Ainu as a people and continuance of their culture". It gives a clear overview of Ainu history and the colonisation of Hokkaido, as well as current issues facing Ainu people. Journal of Indigenous Social Development, 2012.
The Ainu: Beyond the Politics of Cultural Coexistence by Tessa Morris-Suzuki. This article includes a discussion of the colonisation of Ainu lands and resistance to it, and critically analyses the Ainu Cultural Promotion Law of 1997. Cultural Survival, 1999.
Ainu Success: the Political and Cultural Achievements of Japan's Indigenous Minority by Simon Cotterill Japan's Ainu people have undergone suppression of their culture and livelihood, and subsequent denial of their existence. However, this article critically re-evaluates the Ainu's recent history in terms of their considerable achievements, such as international recognition and the Japanese government's 2008 declaration recognising their indigenous status. In spite of and often in reaction to continuing obstacles, the Ainu have successfully used international fora to advance towards their domestic goals. Simultaneously, they have often reshaped their culture to successfully engage with contemporary demands. Asia Pacific Journal, Japan Forum, March 21, 2011.
Documenting Urban Indigeneity: TOKYO Ainu and the 2011 survey on the living conditions of Ainu outside Hokkaido by Simon Cotterill. If acknowledged at all, Japan’s indigenous population the Ainu are usually represented as a rural, exotic group, bound to ancestral homes in Hokkaido and the Northern territories. Yet, large numbers of Ainu, perhaps even the majority of their population, now live in urban centres outside Hokkaido. The recent documentary TOKYO Ainu challenges traditional, negative representations of Ainu culture as only rural, and records the complex reality of urban indigenous life for Ainu within Greater Tokyo. The article compares the film TOKYO Ainu in broadening discourse and understanding of Ainu identity with the Japanese government’s recent living conditions survey released this year. Asia-Pacific Journal, Japan Focus, Nov 7, 2011.
Aynu itak: On the road to Ainu language revitalisation by Kylie Martin, 2011. Includes the following sections: 6. 4. Ainu language classes , 6. 6. Formal education and the Ainu language, 6. 7. Attendance at Ainu language classes.