Changes

The [[Meiji government]]'s policies towards the Ainu seem ambiguous, confusing, or hypocritical in terms of the implications for the racial ideas behind them. Ainu were dispossessed of their lands, and their traditional systems of land rights & hunting/fishing rights eradicated. Under the [[Former Natives Protection Law]] of [[1899]], the seized lands were then reapportioned by the state, divvied up to the Ainu, who were given up to five hectares of land to farm, along with tools, seed, and other materials. The Ainu were encouraged to assimilate and adopt Japanese customs, and were officially designated as ''kyûdojin'' (旧土人), or "former aborigines," a term meant to highlight that Ainu identity was a thing of the past, and that they were now "Japanese." However, the "former Ainu" were at the same time acknowledged as a special, different, group worthy of government concern and welfare, their financial assets seized by the state and re-apportioned to programs aimed at ensuring their "welfare." Even as the Ainu were encouraged to become Japanese citizens, to assimilate into the newly created and supposedly homogenous Japanese identity, and to be seen as Japanese, they continued to be treated as Other in many contexts and venues. At a [[1903]] [[Fifth Domestic Exposition|domestic exposition in Osaka]], mirroring the [[St. Louis World's Fair]] which would take place the next year on a more international stage, Ainu were put on display alongside [[Taiwanese aborigines]], Koreans, and others, in a "Pavilion of Mankind," essentially, a "human zoo," where Japanese visitors could see how less civilized people look and how they live.

The [[Meiji government]]'s policies towards the Ainu seem ambiguous, confusing, or hypocritical in terms of the implications for the racial ideas behind them. Ainu were dispossessed of their lands, and their traditional systems of land rights & hunting/fishing rights eradicated. Under the [[Former Natives Protection Law]] of [[1899]], the seized lands were then reapportioned by the state, divvied up to the Ainu, who were given up to five hectares of land to farm, along with tools, seed, and other materials. The Ainu were encouraged to assimilate and adopt Japanese customs, and were officially designated as ''kyûdojin'' (旧土人), or "former aborigines," a term meant to highlight that Ainu identity was a thing of the past, and that they were now "Japanese." However, the "former Ainu" were at the same time acknowledged as a special, different, group worthy of government concern and welfare, their financial assets seized by the state and re-apportioned to programs aimed at ensuring their "welfare." Even as the Ainu were encouraged to become Japanese citizens, to assimilate into the newly created and supposedly homogenous Japanese identity, and to be seen as Japanese, they continued to be treated as Other in many contexts and venues. At a [[1903]] [[Fifth Domestic Exposition|domestic exposition in Osaka]], mirroring the [[St. Louis World's Fair]] which would take place the next year on a more international stage, Ainu were put on display alongside [[Taiwanese aborigines]], Koreans, and others, in a "Pavilion of Mankind," essentially, a "human zoo," where Japanese visitors could see how less civilized people look and how they live.

By this time, numerous [[Orientalism|Orientalist]] writings had emerged describing the Ainu as Japanese people, or [[Jomon period|Jômon people]], of the past. Scholars in the emerging field of Japanese [[archaeology]], among other fields, argued that the Ainu were either fully ethnically Japanese, or of the same ethnic ancestry, and had maintained the culture and lifestyle of an earlier era; it was believed that the Ainu could serve as a treasure house of (pre-)historical culture, from which the Japanese could (re-)learn how to live more in harmony with nature, and otherwise learn how to moderate those effects of modernization seen as spiritually or culturally detrimental. Very similar discourses circulated concerning Okinawa, Taiwan, and Korea, as storehouses of an earlier form of Japanese culture.

By this time, numerous [[Orientalism|Orientalist]] writings had emerged describing the Ainu as Japanese people, or [[Jomon period|Jômon people]], of the past. Scholars in the emerging field of Japanese [[archaeology]], among other fields, argued that the Ainu were either fully ethnically Japanese, or of the same ethnic ancestry, and had maintained the culture and lifestyle of an earlier era; it was believed that the Ainu could serve as a treasure house of (pre-)historical culture, from which the Japanese could (re-)learn how to live more in harmony with nature, and otherwise learn how to moderate those effects of modernization seen as spiritually or culturally detrimental. Very similar discourses circulated concerning Okinawa, Taiwan, and [[Colonial Korea|Korea]], as storehouses of an earlier form of Japanese culture.

Despite knowledge of Ainu agriculture, Japanese scholars cultivated a discourse in which the Ainu were represented as existing in the hunter-gatherer / fishing-trapping, pre-agricultural stage of societal development, thus emphasizing their primitiveness and distance from the "modern" Japanese.<ref>In fact, even when scholars acknowledged Ainu agriculture, incorporating it into their theories of Ainu primitiveness, they still overlooked or chose to ignore the fact that Ainu methods - which they were portraying as primitive - were in fact little different from those practiced in parts of Matsumae-chi, [[Sado Island]], and certain other remote rural areas of Japan. (Morris-Suzuki. "Creating the Frontier." p21.)</ref> The fiction of Ainu primitiveness, including the myths that Ainu never developed agriculture or metalworking, was considerably aided by the significant decline in Ainu agricultural activity and metalworking in the face of Japanese pressure and economic competition in the Edo period.

Despite knowledge of Ainu agriculture, Japanese scholars cultivated a discourse in which the Ainu were represented as existing in the hunter-gatherer / fishing-trapping, pre-agricultural stage of societal development, thus emphasizing their primitiveness and distance from the "modern" Japanese.<ref>In fact, even when scholars acknowledged Ainu agriculture, incorporating it into their theories of Ainu primitiveness, they still overlooked or chose to ignore the fact that Ainu methods - which they were portraying as primitive - were in fact little different from those practiced in parts of Matsumae-chi, [[Sado Island]], and certain other remote rural areas of Japan. (Morris-Suzuki. "Creating the Frontier." p21.)</ref> The fiction of Ainu primitiveness, including the myths that Ainu never developed agriculture or metalworking, was considerably aided by the significant decline in Ainu agricultural activity and metalworking in the face of Japanese pressure and economic competition in the Edo period.