Rebirth of a nation
20/7/08; The Sun-Herald
For centuries the Ainu had lived on Japan’s northernmost islands, calling their home Ainu Mosir, or Land of Human Beings. Here, they had fished, hunted, worshipped nature and established a culture that yielded Yukar, an oral poem of Homeric length. But, just as with America’s expansion west, the Japanese pushed north in the late 19th century in the first sign of their imperialist ambitions. Japanese settlers decimated the Ainu population, seized their land, rubbished their traditions and renamed it Hokkaido, or North Sea Road. Disease ravaged the population. The Ainu, thought to be descendants of early inhabitants of Japan, had a distinct culture and language some experts say date back to AD1200. They were forced to change their names and banned from traditional hunting and fishing, as part of a harsh assimilation policy.
See: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world/rebirth-of-a-nation/2008/07/19/1216163229922.html
Tags: Human Rights, Japan