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The Two Indigenous Peoples of Japan, the Ainu and the Okinawans, Live on the Northernmost and Southernmost Islands of the Country’S Archipela- Go

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The Two Indigenous Peoples of Japan, the Ainu and the Okinawans, Live on the Northernmost and Southernmost Islands of the Country’S Archipela- Go 246 IWGIA – THE INDIGENOUS WORLD – 2012 JAPAN The two indigenous peoples of Japan, the Ainu and the Okinawans, live on the northernmost and southernmost islands of the country’s archipela- go. The Ainu territory stretches from Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands (now both Russian territories) to the northern part of present-day Japan, includ- ing the entire island of Hokkaido. Hokkaido was unilaterally incorporated into the Japanese state in 1869. Although most Ainu still live in Hokkaido, over the second half of the 20th century, tens of thousands migrated to Japan’s urban centres for work and to escape the more prevalent dis- crimination on Hokkaido. Since June 2008, the Ainu have been officially recognized as an indigenous people of Japan. As of 2006, the Ainu popu- lation was 23,782 in Hokkaido and roughly 5,000 in the greater Kanto region.1 Okinawans live in the Ryūkyū Islands, which now make up Japan’s present-day Okinawa prefecture. They comprise several indigenous lan- guage groups with distinct cultural traits. Japan forcibly annexed the Ryрkyрs in 1879 but later relinquished the islands to the US in exchange for its own independence after World War Two. In 1972, the islands were reincorporated into the Japanese state, but the US military remained. Currently, 75% of all US forces in Japan are located in Okinawa prefec- ture, a mere 0.6% of Japan’s territory. 50,000 US military personnel, their dependents and civilian contractors occupy 34 military installations on Okinawa Island, the largest and most populated of the archipelago. The island is home to 1.1 million of the 1.3 million people living throughout the Ryрkyрs. Although there has been some migration of ethnic Japanese to the islands, the population is largely indigenous Ryũkyũans. In 2007, Japan voted in favour of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. EAST & SOUTH EAST ASIA 247 The Ainu The Great East Japan Earthquake n March 11, 2011, north-eastern Japan suffered one of the strongest earth- Oquakes in recorded history, a magnitude 9 earthquake followed by a devas- 248 IWGIA – THE INDIGENOUS WORLD – 2012 tating tsunami. Approximately 25,000 people were killed and, while few Ainu are known to have lost their lives, their livelihood was affected by the loss of key fisheries in north-eastern Japan. The disaster also crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, resulting in a triple reactor meltdown and the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Leakage of radioactive materials into surrounding pre- fectures led to widespread, ongoing contamination of Japan’s food and water supply. Ainu devotion to healing the natural environment in order to restore an- cestral practices was compounded by the environmental catastrophe of Fukushi- ma and radiation spreading outward, contaminating air, water and ocean ecosys- tems. Ainu activists and poets sought ways to respond to the disaster and to reach out to fellow Indigenous peoples in the process. Progress on government-sponsored Ainu policy The Council on Ainu Policy Promotion, including four representatives from the Ainu Association of Hokkaido and one Ainu representative from Greater Tokyo, continued work during 2011 to develop policy measures for Ainu nationwide. Two sub-groups, the “Symbolic Space of Ethnic Harmony” working group and the “Survey of Socioeconomic Conditions of Ainu outside Hokkaido” working group, submitted reports in 2011. Neither report addressed Ainu self-determination or calls for rights recovery through an indigenous rights framework. In these nego- tiations, international standards on indigenous rights have been abandoned in order to preserve the Japanese Constitution.2 The “Ethnic Harmony” working group suggests that Japan may enhance its global reputation as a model multicultural state by developing Ainu culture as a “valuable culture of our nation”.3 The “Symbolic Space of Ethnic Harmony” is slated to feature a natural/cultural park with facilities for education, research and displays on Ainu history and culture; an area for traditional arts training; and a memorial ossuary for the thousands of indigenous remains pilfered from Ainu gravesites by researchers. Some Ainu organizations have protested at placing the ossuary together with the research laboratories, due to concerns that the re- mains of these ancestors may once again be used for research.4 The “Survey of Socioeconomic Conditions of Ainu outside Hokkaido” working group conducted the first national survey of Ainu in December 2010.Only 210 survey forms (66% of the total) were returned, however, the majority from Tokyo. The survey defined Ainu identity exclusively by blood ancestry.5 Historically, many EAST & SOUTH EAST ASIA 249 ethnic Japanese were adopted into Ainu families. The Ainu have not yet decided how identity should be defined and this idea of identity, as used in the survey, was troubling for many. The survey revealed significant gaps in education and economic stability be- tween Ainu and the majority wajin (Japanese) population. For example, 44.8% of Ainu households nationwide reported an annual income of less than three million yen (approximately $30,000 Euros, compared with 50.9% of Hokkaido Ainu households, and 33.2% of the general population).6 Furthermore, some 9.9% of households are current or previous recipients of government assistance, com- pared with 7% of Hokkaido Ainu households and 2.3% of the general population.7 Regarding education, only 87.9% of Ainu between 18 and 29 years of age had completed high school, compared with 95.2% of Hokkaido Ainu and 97.3% of the general population.8 In short, Ainu outside Hokkaido appear to face greater socio- economic challenges, enjoy fewer institutional benefits from state agencies, and lack community support for reconnecting with their ancestors than their counter- parts in Hokkaido. The Okinawans 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of the end of the United States’ formal post-war occupation, of the Ryũkyũ Islands’ reincorporation into Japan and conferral of Japanese citizenship on Okinawans. The anniversary draws attention to two re- lated characteristics of post-1972 Okinawa. The first is Okinawans’ ongoing strug- gle for equal protection and representation as citizens of Japan. The second is the extent to which the United States depends on Japan’s systematic discrimina- tion of Okinawans to maintain its military presence on the islands. Both are en- capsulated in the long-running struggle over the closure of Marine Corps’ Futen- ma Air Station and the proposed construction of a massive new military complex at Okinawa’s Cape Henoko. The Futenma-Henoko issue: background and recent developments In the wake of public outcry after three US service members gang-raped a 12-year old Okinawan girl in 1995, the US and Japanese governments promised to “re- duce the burden of US military presence” on Okinawans. Central to their agree- 250 IWGIA – THE INDIGENOUS WORLD – 2012 ment was the closure of Futenma base, located in densely populated central Okinawa. However, the US made the base’s closure conditional on the construc- tion of a new “replacement facility” within Okinawa that would assume Futenma’s military functions. Air operations at the base continue, with training flights circling low over residential and commercial areas from early morning to late at night. In early 2004, former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld called Futenma “the most dangerous base in the world”. In August of the same year, a large transport helicopter from the base crashed into a nearby college campus. The same military operations would be moved to the proposed site for the new base, next to the village of Henoko in the city of Nago. The plan involves massive landfill of the sea surrounding Cape Henoko, an area known for its bio- diverse coral reef ecosystem. The plan also includes building six large helipads in the forest of nearby Takae village for flight training with the controversial Osprey MV-22 aircraft. Construction of both facilities threatens the habitats of several critically endangered land and marine species (including the Okinawa dugong, or sea manatee), as well as the safety and quality of life of local residents. (For more background information see also previous issues of The Indigenous World). Okinawan opposition to the new base is as strong as ever. The current gov- ernor of Okinawa and the mayor of Nago City were elected on platforms opposing the Henoko project. The heads of Okinawa’s municipalities and the prefectural assembly passed resolutions against the new base plan, and the latter passed another against the deployment of the Osprey MV-22 to Okinawa. This message of opposition appeared, briefly, to reach Washington in spring 2011. US senators on the powerful Armed Forces Committee declared the 2006 plan “unrealistic, unworkable and unaffordable”.9 However, they proposed inte- grating Futenma’s air operations into Kadena Air Base, also located in densely populated central Okinawa. Locally-elected officials immediately voiced their op- position, citing the already intense problems of aircraft noise at Kadena. Indeed, in April, 22,058 residents living around Kadena Air Base filed a lawsuit seeking a ban on night-time flights. Despite the widespread and democratically expressed opposition to the He- noko project or to integrating air operations into Kadena as a condition of Futen- ma’s closure, Tokyo continues to reaffirm its commitment to the 2006 agreement. The Futenma-Henoko struggle has dominated base politics for 16 years be- cause of what a new base would mean for Okinawans’ future, given the ongoing, day-to-day problems surrounding US military presence and the frequent inability EAST & SOUTH EAST ASIA 251 of Okinawans to achieve genuine redress. This past year saw continued sexual violence and other crimes committed by US servicemen. In January, 21-year-old Koki Yogi died after being struck by a car driven by a civilian employee of the US Air Force.
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