To the Faculty and Staff of Hokkaido University,
On the 5th of November, 2019, at the time of transfer of Ainu ancestral remains and related burial artifacts from Hokkaido University’s Ainu Ossuary to a memorial facility in the town of Shiraoi, Hokkaido University held a press conference, simultaneously releasing an official document stating its position, A Declaration on the Ainu Human Remains Housed at Hokkaido University (related details can be accessed here in Japanese).
While the Declaration admitted that storage and management of the Ainu remains by Hokkaido University had been “lacking in proper consideration of the dignity of the Ainu people, a fully deplorable state on which we sincerely self-reflect,” no offer of apology by the University to the Ainu people was made. The lack of an official apology by the university has drawn criticism not only from the Ainu people themselves, but from all quarters.
When judged by ethical research standards expected of contemporary universities, there can be no denial that the past collection of Ainu human remains and burial artifacts for research purposes by Hokkaido University, the system it implemented for the storage and management of those remains, and the way that it has treated the families of the descendants of these individuals, are all problematic.
However, despite such a situation, it cannot be claimed that Hokkaido University has sincerely confronted the issues, and as a result distrust toward the university has arisen amongst not only Ainu stakeholders and local citizens, including Ainu citizens, but also amongst the students of the university itself. As an educational and research institution, it is incumbent upon Hokkaido University to deeply reflect upon this situation and to make earnest efforts to earn the trust of society.
Accordingly, we, as faculty and staff affiliated with the University, do hereby demand that Hokkaido university make an official apology to the Ainu people. Only through apology concerning this problem will the first step become possible toward building trust relations between Hokkaido University and Ainu people both within and without the university who experience anxiety regarding the problem of the Ainu ancestral remains.
We thereby ask for your cooperation in signing the Statement below.
[There is a form for filling in your information at the bottom]
To the Acting President of Hokkaido University
Masanori Kasahara
We, the undersigned faculty and staff of Hokkaido University, do hereby request that Hokkaido University sincerely accept responsibility for the range of problems associated with the Ainu human remains that have been collected and stored on the university campus, and that it genuinely apologize for its stance and conduct regarding all matters related to these remains.
Proposers (in alphabetical order):
ABE, Yukiko（Faculty of Economics and Business）
AKIMOTO, Shin-ichi （Research Faculty of Agriculture）
CHI, Hyunjoo Naomi（Public Policy School）
COOK, Emma (Research Faculty of Media and Communication)
FUJINO, Youhei(Research Faculty of Media and Communication)
GAYMAN, Jeff (Research Faculty of Media and Communication)
HANSEN, Paul (Research Faculty of Media and Communication)
HARADA, Mami (Research Faculty of Media and Communication)
HASEGAWA, Takahiko （Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences）
HASHIMOTO, Yu（Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences）
IKEDA, Tohru（Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences）
KANIE Shunji（Faculty of Engineering）
KATO, Hirofumi (Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies)
KATSU, Yoshinao（Faculty of Science）
KAWATA, Manabu (Faculty of Education)
KITAHARA, Mokottunas（Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies）
KONDO, Shiaki（Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies）
KURATA, Nobuo（Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences）
MATSUI, Toshihito（Faculty of Engineering）
MATSUMOTO, Ichiro (School of Education)
MAYSUDA, Yasuko(Faculty of Education)
MINOSHIMA, Hideki （Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies）
MIYAUCHI, Taisuke（Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences）
MIYAZAWA, Haruhiko （Faculty of Fisheries Sciences）
MOOAM, Hyun (Research Faculty of Media and Communication)
MORIYA, Jun (Faculty of Education)
MURATA, Katsuyuki （Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences）
NABESHIMA, Takako (Research Faculty of Media and Communication)
NAGANUMA, Masaki（Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies）
ODA, Hiroshi（Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences）
OGAWA, Sawako （Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences）
OKU, Satoshi (Research Faculty of Media and Communication)
PAICHADZE, Svetlana (Research Faculty of Media and Communication)
SASAOKA, Masatoshi （Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences）
SENAHA, Eijun （Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences）
TAKASE, Katsunori （Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences）
TANIMOTO, Akihisa （Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences）
TATSUZAWA, Shirow（Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences）
TOMINARI, Ayako (Research Faculty of Media and Communication)
TSUCHIDA, Eiko (Research Faculty of Media and Communication)
TSUJI, Tomoko(Faculty of Education)
YAMAGATA, Sadam（Faculty of Engineering）
YAMAGUCHI Mikako（Faculty of Humanities and Human Sciences）
YAMASAKI, Koji （Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies）
YOSHIDA, Kunihiko （Graduate School of Law）
4 Other Proposers who chose to remain anonymous.