August 3, 2026

Akahata ‘current’ column (excerpts)

The adoption of the “UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples” under international human rights law in 2007 has brought the basic stances and responsibilities of educational and research institutions and universities around the world into question.

Following the University of Tokyo last year, Hokkaido University recently reflected deeply on and apologized for looting the remains of “Ainu” cadavers from Hokkaido during the war. These actions demonstrate the international community’s call for respect of differences in race, ethnicity, gender, age, and values, as well as for inclusivity and diversity.

“Ainu” means “human” in the Ainu language. The Ainu people, an indigenous group, have possessed a unique language, culture, and customs centuries before the establishment of “Hokkaido” in 1869. They have lived in communities along riverbanks.

Ueki Tetsuya, author of “The Violence of Scholarship” and a researcher investigating the issue of the theft of Ainu remains, pointed out that the Japanese invasion of Hokkaido was carried out to disempower the Ainu people through assimilation and colonization. The researcher said, “Both the mass looting of human remains by Kodama Sakuzaemon, an anthropologist and anatomist at Hokkaido University, and the ‘medical and ethnobiological survey’ (1934 - 1938) on the Ainu were carried out in accordance with a ethnosupremacist national policy.” He stated that academic disciplines based on the idea of racial or ethnic hierarchy, premised on discrimination and prejudice, are no longer acceptable.

Past related article:
> JCP Iwabuchi criticizes gov’t for slow response to return of ‘Ainu’ remains [May 28, 2026]