Ainu Submergence and Emergence: Human Rights Discourse and the Expression of Ethnicity in Modern Japan‪.‬

The Ainu of northern Japan, long written off as a "dying" or "assimilated" ethnic group by both Japanese and Western scholars, have recently attempted to regenerate an identity through ties to other "First Nations" and appeals to human rights discourse. Only recently has the Japanese state reluctantly abandoned its long-held denial of Ainu claims as an indigenous group within a multicultural state. However, it remains to be seen if Ainu ethnopolitics and aspirations will move beyond the present "museum culture" to something more substantial than Hokkaido tourist attractions. This paper briefly surveys the literature on Ainu history, considers the Nibutani Dam court case and the struggle for the Ainu Shimpo (Ainu New Law) of 1997, and presents recent events of Ainu ethnic revival as a case study of human rights in an "Asian" context. In the summer time most people are busy working, so you must be ready, if you want to see them dance and sing, to give them sake.--Tourist Guide to the Ainu Life, Hokkaido Government, 1927