Gov't panel decides to study Ainu living outside Hokkaido+

TOKYO, Jan. 29 Kyodo -
A government committee aimed at devising policies to support the Ainu
indigenous people decided Friday at its first meeting to study the current
conditions of those living outside Hokkaido, where many of them live.

While the Hokkaido government has provided subsidies and other forms of support
under certain conditions to the Ainu who reside on the northeastern main
island, such support does not apply to those living outside the island.
''In a way, the life of the Ainu people is the very model for the world's
future,'' Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said at the outset of the meeting,
praising the indigenous people as living in self-reliance and coexistence with
other peoples. ''We would appreciate it if you could tell us about (the Ainu's)
philosophical aspects, such as how we should live.''
The panel was launched last month, with Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano
as its chairman, after a report by experts on the Ainu and related issues said
last July there is a need for increased support for the ethnic group, and it
includes several people of Ainu heritage.
During the meeting, the panel decided to create two working groups, one to look
into the Ainu living outside Hokkaido and the other to consider creating a
space that would symbolize the coexistence between the Ainu and other Japanese.
The working groups will reach a conclusion by the end of the next fiscal year
that starts in April, Katsuya Ogawa, a Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker and
acting chairman of the panel, told reporters after the meeting.
The Ainu, who have lived for centuries in Hokkaido and nearby areas including
Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, have their own language and customs, but were
assimilated into Japan by the Japanese government beginning around the late Edo
era (1603-1867).
The panel members include Hokkaido Gov. Harumi Takahashi and Tadashi Kato, who
heads the Ainu Association of Hokkaido.
Some of them said there is a need for legislation to support the indigenous
people, arguing that enactment of a law on them would help local authorities
tackle Ainu issues, Ogawa said.
Others called for expanding the application of existing measures for Ainu to
areas outside Hokkaido, so that those living outside the island can receive
similar support, he said.
Takahashi told reporters after the meeting that she also considers it necessary
to teach children in school about the Ainu given that discrimination against
them remains in society.
The next panel meeting will be held in May or June.
The July report, compiled under the previous government led by the Liberal
Democratic Party, urged the government to take concrete steps to improve the
lives of the Ainu and promote their culture through new legislation.
==Kyodo
2010-01-29 23:12:18


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