246 IWGIA THE INDIGENOUS WORLD 2012 JAPAN

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1 246 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 archipelago. The Ainu territory stretches from Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands (now both Russian territories) to the northern part of present-day Japan, including the entire island of Hokkaido. Hokkaido was unilaterally incorporated into the Japanese state in Although most Ainu still live in Hokkaido, over the second half of the 20 th century, tens of thousands migrated to Japan s urban centres for work and to escape the more prevalent discrimination on Hokkaido. Since June 2008, the Ainu have been officially recognized as an indigenous people of Japan. As of 2006, the Ainu population 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 language groups with distinct cultural traits. Japan forcibly annexed the Ryūkyūs 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 prefecture, 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 Ryūkyūs. 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.

2 EAST & SOUTH EAST ASIA 247 The Ainu The Great East Japan Earthquake On March 11, 2011, north-eastern Japan suffered one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded history, a magnitude 9 earthquake followed by a devas-

3 248 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 prefectures led to widespread, ongoing contamination of Japan s food and water supply. Ainu devotion to healing the natural environment in order to restore ancestral practices was compounded by the environmental catastrophe of Fukushima and radiation spreading outward, contaminating air, water and ocean ecosystems. 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 Neither report addressed Ainu self-determination or calls for rights recovery through an indigenous rights framework. In these negotiations, 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 remains 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

4 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 between 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, compared 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 socioeconomic challenges, enjoy fewer institutional benefits from state agencies, and lack community support for reconnecting with their ancestors than their counterparts in Hokkaido. The Okinawans 2012 marks the 40 th 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 related characteristics of post-1972 Okinawa. The first is Okinawans ongoing struggle for equal protection and representation as citizens of Japan. The second is the extent to which the United States depends on Japan s systematic discrimination of Okinawans to maintain its military presence on the islands. Both are encapsulated in the long-running struggle over the closure of Marine Corps Futenma 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 reduce the burden of US military presence on Okinawans. Central to their agree-

5 250 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 construction 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 biodiverse 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 governor 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 US senators on the powerful Armed Forces Committee declared the 2006 plan unrealistic, unworkable and unaffordable. 9 However, they proposed integrating Futenma s air operations into Kadena Air Base, also located in densely populated central Okinawa. Locally-elected officials immediately voiced their opposition, 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 Henoko project or to integrating air operations into Kadena as a condition of Futenma s closure, Tokyo continues to reaffirm its commitment to the 2006 agreement. The Futenma-Henoko struggle has dominated base politics for 16 years because 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

6 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. The incident fueled frustrations toward the US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement, which prevents local officials from apprehending or prosecuting US military and civilian personnel who commit crimes. In October, Japan s Supreme Court dismissed an appeal filed by Okinawan plaintiffs after their lawsuit concerning night-time air operations at Futenma Air Station was rejected by a lower court. Although Okinawans most pressing problems stem from contemporary US military practices and the Japanese government s support of them, past military policies still impact on everyday life. Excavations over the past year, including in the grounds of a high school and a hospital, revealed over 100 unexploded bombs and smaller ordinance remaining from the Battle of Okinawa in Also, in September, former US soldiers disclosed that barrels of the toxic defoliant Agent Orange had been buried on the island during the Vietnam War. Notes and references 1 Population figures taken from the 2006 Survey of Ainu Livelihood conducted by Hokkaido prefectural government in cooperation with the Ainu Association (Hokkaido Government, Environment and Lifestyle Section Hokkaido Ainu Survey on Livelihood Report, Accessed 20 March 2011, Many with Ainu ancestry do not publicly identify as Ainu due to discrimination and stigma in Japanese society. Ainu observers estimate the actual population of those with Ainu ancestry to be between , The Expert Meeting on Ainu Policy included two constitutional legal experts and the governor of Hokkaido prefecture to ensure policy recommendations would not violate the authority of the Japanese Constitution (Expert Meeting on Ainu Policy Final Report kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/ainu/index.html, (Accessed 8 December 2011, page 21-22). 3 Symbolic Space of Ethnic Harmony Working Group Report. June jp/singi/ainusuishin/shuchou-kukan/houkokusho.pdf, Accessed 8 December 2011, page 1. 4 Formal request to Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio from the Research Group on Materials Released by Hokkaido University, 12 July 2011, (posted 13 July 2011), Accessed 4 January 2012). 5 Survey on Socioeconomic Conditions of Ainu outside Hokkaido Working Group Report. June Accessed 7 December 2011, page 7. 6 Ibid., p. 9 7 Ibid., p Ibid., p

7 252 IWGIA THE INDIGENOUS WORLD Senators Levin, McCain, Webb Call for Re-Examination of Military Basing Plans in East Asia, Press Release, Senator John McCain, May 11, 2011, Accessed February 1, ann-elise lewallen is assistant professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Kanako Uzawa is scientific assistant in the Centre for Sámi Health Research, Institute of Community Medicine, University of Tromsø, Norway. She is a member of the Ainu Association of Rera in Tokyo. Kelly Dietz is an assistant professor in the Department of Politics at Ithaca College in New York.