Nationalism And Its Influence On Ainu People Assignment (Essay Sample)

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Nationalism and its Influence on the Ainu People.
The origin of the Ainu people has been the center of debate in the anthropology of Japan. They form the indigenous people of Japan known as Hokkaido. Their indigenous nature has seen them experience distressing cruelty of their culture and livelihood and subsequently enough they have even been denied existence. Japan has other minorities living there apart from the Ainu people despite the government saying that Japan is homogenous. Researchers have conducted in-depth studies regarding the origin of the Ainu people, but they have not yet reached a unanimous deduction. Rather, biased opinions and views on these people continue to exist locally and globally with theories continuing to change under the influence of such aspects as nationalism. The influences of imperial nationalism and continuous narrations that view Japan as homogeneous, as well as anthropology knowledge, have affected the ethnic identity of the Ainu people.
The origin of the Ainu dates back to 300B.C during the Yayoi period. Their culture extended from the 1400s to about 1700s following one theory that it developed from the Satsumon culture through the influence of Okhotsk culture. Before assimilation into Japanese, this group was viewed as a minority and underwent all forms of oppression from the Japanese government. In fact, their population showed traces of exponential decrease before the 1950s due to various disease such smallpox, venereal disease among others with no proper attention from the government (Ainu Museum Poroto Kotan, n.p). The indigenousness affiliated with the Ainu people has never been acknowledged in the political arena of Japan. With Hokkaido as exceptional, the existence of the Ainu people has never been known due to homogenous myth. Thus, examining the cultural anthropology if the Ainu people is a crucial element as it would enhance the relationships between the indigenous communities and the anthropologists (Hamada, Shingo 12; Low, Morris S65).
The ideology of nationalism permeated Japan to a greater extent and influenced most of the intellects in the country after the WWII. Japan experienced two international wars namely; Russo-Japanese and the Sino-Japanese war. The war increased the yearning for Japan to be identified on an international scale. Thus, the scholars began developing discussions about Japan and Ainu origins. The origins of Ainu formed one of the most critical factors in the discourse of the origins affiliated with Japanese and identity in terms of ethnicity. This was meant to demonstrate the racial superiority of Japan to the rest of the populations in Asia (Hamada, Shingo 15).
By the end of WWII political statements and regulations legitimated the emperor worship. Imperial nationalism formed a perfect example, and it was later referred to as official nationalism to denote the merger of the empires dynastic and nation. It is worth noting that nationality and the nation form cultural artifacts with the nation being viewed as a political community (Hamada, Shingo 21; Low, Morris S57). Thus, there are two main concepts that have formed the focal point for imperial nationalism in Japan in the pursuit of demonstrating the racial homogeneity and superiority in Japan. That is, Kuni (nation) and minzoku which implies to race or ethnicity (Hamada, Shingo 23). As far as imperial nationalism is concerned, there has been mingling of the concepts affiliated with nation and minzoku with no clarity in distinctions regarding race, nationality or ethnicity. In fact, the word minzoku takes after the German word volk which in may be translated into an ethnic group, the nation or people. Following the minzoku concept, it would seem that Japanese were a group of people who shared a common cultural and biological ancestry. Based on such a notion, it has become difficult to translate minzoku into other languages as it connotes race more than ethnicity. However, from a different perspective, minzoku forms a critical element that claims the homogeneity of Japan as a nation. So, Nationalism integrated with imperialism could be some of the factors that catalyzed the isolation of the Ainu people.
In the course of modern nation building after WWII imperialism and nationalism played a critical role in the identity formation of the Japanese during the Meiji Period. Prior to this period, the sharing of political authority was between the centralized Bakufu administration and some autonomous feudal domains that were dispersed throughout Japan. The culture at that time was diversified in terms of race. Nevertheless, there was a need to seek unity to find a place in the world that was amidst of the dominance of the western powers. So, the Meiji leaders took the initiative to unite the people in a way that could enhance the social, economic, and political affiliations. The imperial nationalism integrated such concepts as race, nation, and ethnicity thereby making the heterogeneous population to be one family in harmony. The assimilation of Ainu into the society of Japan happened during this time although it had one major aim which was to claim the Hokkaido territory before the Russians did (Loy, Christopher David 2). Although the Ainu people manage to infuse into Japan as Japanese citizens, they were still not permitted to participate most activities that involved the community and therefore in one way or the other they represented a population that was internally colonized. In fact, the government of Japan justified this inequality and continued to insist that they should remain subordinated due to their inborn differences (Steinberg, Shirley., et al. 135). Thus, based on the version of the Japanese, it simply implied that the identity of the Ainu people was Invisible and to a greater extent it could not be imagined that it could assist to mainstream the upcoming generation.
Nevertheless, with time the social isomorphisms that were created between the various indigenous people and worldwide institutions enhanced the critical viewing of the Ainu people, and by the 20th century, they began indulging in politics with minimal experiences of racial discrimination (Loy, Christopher David 5). They indulged in many forums and world groups of indigenous people which facilitated the positive viewing. Also, the Ainu had to reshape their culture to blend well with the demands of the contemporary world, and by 2008 they had achieved a place in the Japanese population (Cotterill, Simon 1). Their moves had eventually enabled them to achieve recognition from the government that had otherwise failed to recognize them and was so eager to eradicate their culture. The Ainu also wanted their share of power. So, they had to influence the state and the international bodies as they interacted in between these two agencies. Cotterill used a broken triangle demonstrated below to show ho...