Hypothesis
The Ainu moved from Hokkaido and northern part of Honshu to farther north, because of war that happened in Japan long time ago.
Ainu Culture & Biography
Ainu means human in the Ainu language. The Ainu’s history was known from the Jomon period, which is about 1200 CE. There are very few full-blooded Ainu these days. That is because the Ainu had intermarriages with the Japanese people. You can tell that a person is Ainu by their appearance. The Ainu have skin that is lighter than the Japanese, and the Ainu generally have more hair on their bodies. They also have big noses and eyes. Unfortunately, the Ainu are becoming more extinct, just like their language, where there are less than 100 people who can speak the Ainu language. In the 15th century, there were many Mongolians from Korea, China, etc who came to live in Japan. Some of them moved to Hokkaido and northern parts of Honshu, where most of the Ainu were living. When the new Japanese settlers wanted the Ainu’s land, the Ainu were forced to leave. The Japanese settlers started to push the Ainu farther to the very north of Hokkaido, and also to the islands in the north, such as the Kurile Islands and southern Sakhalin Island. Also, the Ainu’s population dropped, because of infectious diseases that the Japanese settlers brought. There weren’t many Ainu left when they moved to north, because of population decrease, and some of the Ainu moved to other countries such as Korea, China, Russia, etc. The Japanese didn’t treat the Ainu right at all, and there was racism against the Ainu. For example, the Japanese ignored the Ainu’s opinion when the Japanese discussed about how to make improvements in Hokkaido. Even today, some people are still racists against the Ainu. Som...
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Matsumoto studies three generations, Issei, Nisei, and Sansei living in a closely linked ethnic community. She focuses her studies in the Japanese immigration experiences during the time when many Americans were scared with the influx of immigrants from Asia. The book shows a vivid picture of how Cortex Japanese endured violence, discriminations during Anti-Asian legislation and prejudice in 1920s, the Great Depression of 1930s, and the internment of 1940s. It also shows an examination of the adjustment period after the end of World War II and their return to the home place.
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Although the term “revolution from above” is often used to explain the GHQ’s method of postwar reform in Japan (Dower, 1999: p.69), I argue that a similar motivation was in effect in the U.S.’s efforts to isolate all Japanese descendants in America and subject them to coerced American soci...
In 1900 Britain was in many respects the world’s leading nation, enjoying a large share of world trade, a dominant position in the international money market, and possessing a far flung empire supported by the world’s most powerful navy. Japan was a complete contrast, sharing with Britain only the fact that it too was a nation of Islands lying off the shore of a major continent. Until the 1860s it had possessed a social and economic structure more akin to that of feudal, rather than twentieth century, Europe. By the 1990s, the positions were almost reversed. This paper sets out to examine the contrasting democratic political systems of the two nations and to explore the social and democratic consequences of the changes that have occurred.
The Discourse acts as a forum for the exploration of the political pathways that Japan could follow following the Meiji Restoration in 1868. At a time when Japan had just begun to consolidate herself, Chomin’s Discourse was aimed at discussing Japan’s long-term trajectory through three imaginary mouthpieces, ‘The Gentleman of Western Learning’, his opposition ‘The Champion of the East’, whose debate is being observed and arbitrated by a ‘Master Nankai’.
Japanese immigration created the same apprehension and intolerance in the mind of the Americans as was in the case of Chinese migration to the U.S at the turn of the 19th century. They developed a fear of being overwhelmed by a people having distinct ethnicity, skin color and language that made them “inassimilable.” Hence they wanted the government to restrict Asian migration. Japan’s military victories over Russia and China reinforced this feeling that the Western world was facing what came to be known as “yellow peril”. This was reflected in the media, movies and in literature and journalism.4 Anti-Oriental public opinion gave way to several declarations and laws to restrict Japanese prosperity on American land. Despite the prejudice and ineligibility to obtain citizenship the ...
The Bunun peoples have been assimilated by the Japanese and further shaped by local government, Christianity, the Catholic church, and the Han-Chinese. They have long struggled to keep up their many rituals and beliefs and cultural identity. The Bunun continue to reshape their traditions in the face of cultural oppression. The contemporary Bunun have faced many oppressors and have long struggled to retain their many rituals, beliefs, and cultural identity, which have been rendered increasingly weak, bastardized versions of their rich ancestral past.
The Ainu people, primarily inhabiting the country of Japan, are a key component to anthropology for the sole reason that they are just one of many indigenous peoples who anthropologists’ study and analyze in order to learn more about the diversity and variation around the world. Only being recently recognized, anthropologists study the Ainu, specifically located in both the islands of Hokkaido and Sakhalin by traveling to various regions of Japan where they are primarily living and first-handedly experiencing the main aspects being, their culture, economic activities, sociopolitical organizations, outside influences, and settlement patterns (Ohnuki-Tierney 297). Many anthropologists have studied this group of individuals, specifically the physical, or biological, anthropologists, as they sought to uncover the cultural background of the Ainu and how their culture had since evolved over the thousands of years they lived and were undisclosed. In the early 20th century, the Ainu people grabbed the attention of many anthropologists when it was publicized that they shared physical and skeletal features with Caucasian individuals (Miner, 2009). This enormous detail found enthralled anthropologists, revealing that they had much similarity to those of another “race” than those in their own country. Another reason anthropologists chose to study the Ainu is because the Ainu people inhabited regions of Japan but had differences in their culture, language, customs, and physical appearance than the Japanese. As a result, anthropologists’ wanted to find out just why those differences came about and how they remained so strongly bounded by their own distinct culture while living within a country so rich in Japanese customs.
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The Meiji Revolution was a pivotal time period in Japanese history, a period during which Japan was rapidly industrialized and transformed through the efforts of a newly centralized, imperial government. As Western goods and technology permeated the nation, so did Western perspectives on morality and ethics enter the public view. However, such perspectives were not necessarily easily accepted; through the inspection of various primary sources, it becomes clear that, despite Japan’s rapid acceptance and adoption of Western technology and culture, there remained clear resistance toward Western views on social order.
Stockwin, J. A. Chapter 7: Who Runs Japan? In Governing Japan: Divided Politics in a Resurgent Economy (4th ed., pp. 46-72). London, The United Kingdom: Blackwell.
Our preliminary class gave a brief, yet detailed outline of major events affecting the East Asian region. Within that class, prompted by our limited geographical knowledge of Asia, we were given a fundamental explanation of the geographical locations of the various events taking place in the region. In subsequent classes, we were introduced to the major wars, political shifts, and economic interests which shaped Japan, China and Korea to what they are today. We examined the paradigm of pre-modern Japanese governance, the Shogunate, and the trained warriors which defended lord and land, Samurai. In addition, we examined the socio-economic classes of Medieval Japan, which included the Samurai, peasants, craftsmen, and the merchants. We also examined pre-1945 Japan’s policies toward foreign entities, notably the Sakoku Policy, which sought to expunge all foreign presence and commerce in an effort to protect its borders and culture. 1945, however, saw ...
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