Changes

The [[Hokkaido Development Commission|colonial government agency]]<!--kaitakushi 開拓使--> was established in [[1869]]/8, with [[Horace Capron]], a former US Secretary of Agriculture who played a prominent role in suppressing Native American opposition to American expansion, as one of the chief advisors. After a series of surveys and investigations, the [[o-yatoi gaikokujin|Western experts]] who had been brought in by the Japanese government disagreed widely. Capron took the lead, suggesting a directed effort to bring in Japanese settlers to colonize Hokkaidô; deciding that the land was no good for growing rice, he advocated a more American way of life, raising wheat, eating bread, and living in Western-style brick homes with Western-style furniture and a largely Western-style diet. This latter set of suggestions was ultimately not followed, however, as lifestyle in Hokkaidô was instead adapted to conform to more Japanese norms - even if the land were indeed better for raising wheat and other grains rather than rice, a hardier strain of rice plant was instead developed, and other elements of Japanese culture and lifestyle were introduced (or imposed).<ref>Morris-Suzuki. "Creating the Frontier." p14.</ref>

The [[Hokkaido Development Commission|colonial government agency]]<!--kaitakushi 開拓使--> was established in [[1869]]/8, with [[Horace Capron]], a former US Secretary of Agriculture who played a prominent role in suppressing Native American opposition to American expansion, as one of the chief advisors. After a series of surveys and investigations, the [[o-yatoi gaikokujin|Western experts]] who had been brought in by the Japanese government disagreed widely. Capron took the lead, suggesting a directed effort to bring in Japanese settlers to colonize Hokkaidô; deciding that the land was no good for growing rice, he advocated a more American way of life, raising wheat, eating bread, and living in Western-style brick homes with Western-style furniture and a largely Western-style diet. This latter set of suggestions was ultimately not followed, however, as lifestyle in Hokkaidô was instead adapted to conform to more Japanese norms - even if the land were indeed better for raising wheat and other grains rather than rice, a hardier strain of rice plant was instead developed, and other elements of Japanese culture and lifestyle were introduced (or imposed).<ref>Morris-Suzuki. "Creating the Frontier." p14.</ref>

The government banned a variety of Ainu practices, including [[tattoos|tattooing]], in [[1871]], and obliged all Ainu to speak [[Standard Japanese]]. In [[1876]], efforts began to force Ainu to adopt Japanese-style names.<ref>Gallery labels, National Museum of Japanese History (Rekihaku).[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/11737713963/sizes/l]</ref>

The government banned a variety of Ainu practices, including [[tattoos|tattooing]], in [[1871]], and obliged all Ainu to speak [[Standard Japanese]]. In [[1876]], efforts began to force Ainu to adopt Japanese-style names, and the following year, the government began to claim Ainu lands as government property.<ref name=rekihaku>Gallery labels, National Museum of Japanese History (Rekihaku).[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/11737713963/sizes/l]</ref>

In [[1875]], Japan and Russia revised their formal agreements regarding borders and territorial claims; the Kuril Islands came under Japanese control in exchange for Japan relinquishing its claims to Sakhalin. The Japanese authorities discovered, however, that the Ainu of the Kuril Islands had been Russified. The inhabitants of Shumshu and Paramushir were forcibly relocated to Shikotan, one of the southernmost Kuril Islands, nearest to Hokkaidô, and efforts were made to assimilate them into Japanese culture and customs. However, the relocation resulted in disease, depression, and famine, and the community shrank dramatically; still, they retained their Russian names, dress, and customs, and even managed to convert a number of Japanese to Russian Orthodox Christianity.<ref>Morris-Suzuki. "Creating the Frontier." p16.</ref>

In [[1875]], Japan and Russia revised their formal agreements regarding borders and territorial claims; the Kuril Islands came under Japanese control in exchange for Japan relinquishing its claims to Sakhalin. The Japanese authorities discovered, however, that the Ainu of the Kuril Islands had been Russified. The inhabitants of Shumshu and Paramushir were forcibly relocated to Shikotan, one of the southernmost Kuril Islands, nearest to Hokkaidô, and efforts were made to assimilate them into Japanese culture and customs. However, the relocation resulted in disease, depression, and famine, and the community shrank dramatically; still, they retained their Russian names, dress, and customs, and even managed to convert a number of Japanese to Russian Orthodox Christianity.<ref>Morris-Suzuki. "Creating the Frontier." p16.</ref>

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. Salmon fishing was prohibited, and river fishing remains illegal today, with exceptions made for traditional practices.<ref>Gallery labels, "Ainu Treasures," East-West Center. Feb 2013.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/8522638707/in/dateposted-public/]</ref> 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. Salmon fishing was prohibited, and river fishing remains illegal today, with exceptions made for traditional practices.<ref>Gallery labels, "Ainu Treasures," East-West Center. Feb 2013.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/8522638707/in/dateposted-public/]</ref> 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 forced to assimilate and adopt Japanese customs, and were officially designated in [[1878]] 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." Beginning in [[1901]], Ainu students were separated out from Wajin students, and placed in separate classes or schools.<ref name=rekihaku/> 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 [[Colonial Korea|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.