Ethnic Tourism in Hokkaido and the Shaping of Ainu Identity

Abstract

O , n 8 May 1997, with the enactment of the Ainu Culture Promotion Law, the Japanese government took a significant step towards officially acknowledging the existence of the Ainu as an ethnic minority.' The law isJapan's first legislation to acknowledge the existence of an ethnic minority in the country and, unlike the Hokkaid6 Former Aborigines Protection Act which the new law replaces, the Ainu were involved in the process of its enactment. This preliminary move, however, stopped short of recognising the Ainu as an indigenous people as defined by the United Nations. The Hokkaid6 Ainu thus remain virtually invisible in a country they have inhabited for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. One venue that plays a vital role in the representation of the Ainu inJapan today is ethnic tourism, which centres on tourist villages scattered across Hokkaid6.2