2023-08-08 04:45:27
URAHORO, Japan — Masaki Sashima gazed through the mist at the gray waters of the Tokachi River in Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island. From there, his indigenous people, the Ainu, once used spears and nets to catch the salmon they considered a gift from the gods.
Under Japanese law, river fishing for these salmon, an essential part of Ainu cuisine, trade and spiritual culture, has been prohibited for more than a century. Sashima, 72, said it was time to restore one of the last vestiges of a decimated Ainu identity.
“The salmon was to be enjoyed by everyone in the community,” he said.
Sashima is leading a group that has sued the central government and the prefectural government to regain salmon fishing rights, four years following Japan’s Parliament passed a law recognizing the Ainu as the nation’s indigenous people. .
For centuries, Japanese assimilation policies have dispossessed the Ainu of their land, forced them to give up hunting and fishing, and forced them into Japanese-language schools where it was impossible to preserve their language.
When the government banned all river fishing during the Meiji era, which lasted from 1868 to 1912, the main justification was to protect salmon while they spawned. The move coincided with a government policy to keep the Ainu away from fishing and thus give an advantage to Japanese fishermen who would catch salmon at sea, said Shinichi Yamada, a professor at Sapporo Gakuin University.
Ainu advocates point out that the Japanese law does not comply with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which stipulates the right to use land and resources claimed through traditional ownership or practices. Japan voted in favor of the non-binding declaration in 2007.
The ranks of the Ainu have thinned so much that in the last official survey, conducted in 2017, only 13,118 people identified themselves as Ainu in Hokkaido, whose total population is around 5.2 million. UNESCO has designated the Ainu language as “critically endangered.”
This year, the Japanese government plans to spend regarding $40 million to support Ainu cultural activities, tourism and industry. In 2020, the government opened an Ainu museum in Shiraoi to celebrate Ainu traditions such as dance, woodcarving and archery. A historical timeline in the main exhibition hall acknowledges that Japanese invaders “suppressed” the Ainu.
Critics say neither the new law nor the museum does enough to empower the Ainu.
The Governor of the Prefecture grants annual exemptions to the Ainu to catch a limited number of salmon from the river for ceremonial purposes. Sashima said that even if his group wins their lawsuit, he would never catch much more than the 100-200 salmon they are already allowed each year.
“This is regarding our rights, not regarding the number of fish,” he said.
For Sashima, suing is regarding leaving a legacy.
“Ethnic discrimination doesn’t go away no matter where you go,” he said. “You can’t hide from her anywhere.”
Por: MOTOKO RICH y HIKARI HIDA
BBC-NEWS-SRC: IMPORTING DATE: 2023-07-19 21:00:06
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