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 Hall), will be renamed the Hokkaido Museum in spring 2015, prefectural officials said.
During the postwar development of Hokkaido, the Ainu were forced from their ancestral land by settlers from Honshu and elsewhere. The prefecture is home to an estimated 24,000 Ainu.