Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
National Sep 19, 2013
Hokkaido mulls museum revamp, new name to reflect Ainu perspective
Hokkaido is considering overhauling historical displays at its prefectural museum to showcase the indigenous Ainu people, who were deprived of their livelihoods and culture through the island’s development. The Historical Museum of Hokkaido, which in Japanese is called Hokkaido Kaitaku Kinenkan (Hokkaido Pioneer Memorial ...
Issues | THE FOREIGN ELEMENT Aug 12, 2013
Ainu fight for return of plundered ancestral remains
by Simon Scott
Shigeru Kayano, one of the most well-known and respected Ainu figures of modern times, writes in his autobiography “Our Land Was a Forest” about the loathing he felt as a young man for the shamo (Japanese) researchers who used to visit his village and ...
Politics & Diplomacy Jul 12, 2013
Ainu group gives up fielding candidates in poll
A political group launched in January 2012 with the ambition of becoming a bona fide party to better represent the indigenous Ainu has given up its plan to field 10 candidates in the July 21 Upper House election after failing to collect sufficient campaign ...
Science & Health | NATURAL SELECTIONS Mar 10, 2013
Embrace the DNA that makes you a mongrel
by Rowan Hooper
This month, we celebrate the mongrel, a word that means different things to different people. For some, it may bring to mind nonpedigree dogs, mutts that don't belong to a specific breed; in Japanese, the word is daken, which has the definite negative connotation ...
Reference | FYI May 20, 2008
Ainu: indigenous in every way but not by official fiat
by Masami Ito
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples last Sept. 13, with Japan among the 144 member states voting in favor. The U.N. estimates there are more than 370 million indigenous people in some 70 countries. To this ...