Abstract
This chapter explores the history and current situation of indigenous education in the Ryūkyūs, comparing it with the case of the Ainu, the only nationally recognised indigenous group of Japan. I investigate (1) how Japan has dealt with education for its indigenous population, and (2) how indigenous groups pursue their indigenous identities in the current Japanese educational system. Japan is often considered a culturally homogeneous nation. Educational policies reproducing the dominant ideology of a monolingual, monocultural, and monoethnic nation have played an important role in shaping the discourse of the largely invisible indigenous peoples in Japan. I conclude that educational policies in Japan need to provide choices and tolerance for indigenous peoples, for the sake of the indigenous peoples to have a real choice to be indigenous in Japan.
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Notes
- 1.
The United Nations human rights bodies have dealt with the Ainu people as an indigenous people since 1987 and have accepted Okinawan delegations as members of the community of indigenous peoples since 1996 (Uemura 2003). There are several other names to call this group, including Uchinaanchu and Okinawans. I use “Ryūkyūan” in order to also include inhabitants on the smaller islands of the archipelago.
- 2.
For a detailed analysis of indigenous rights and education for the Ainu, see Gayman (2011).
- 3.
- 4.
Shinto is a state religion of Japan.
- 5.
In the Okinawan language, people call the Japanese yamatonchu.
- 6.
shihan gakkō served as a type of school for pupils who became teachers.
- 7.
The Battle of Okinawa was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the Okinawa island.
- 8.
Ainu call the Japanese “wajin” or “shamo.”
- 9.
Kaitaku translates from the Japanese into English as “cultivation” or “pioneer”, but in the context of Ainu land, I use the translation “Colonisation Commission”, as used by others. See, e.g., Siddle (2003).
- 10.
Kaizawa (1993) wrote of his own experience of trying hard to be recognised as Japanese, due to the state policies of assimilation.
- 11.
In the Nibutani Valley area, Ainu language lessons were started by Shigeru Kayano in 1983.
- 12.
In December 2017, I met Ms. Sayaka Mizuki (has Sayaka-san given her permission for you to use her name in this context? If not, then you should quickly get her permission, or otherwise keep her name anonymous), who told me her own experience of growing up not knowing she was actually Ainu.
- 13.
Shīsā is a traditional Ryūkyūan decoration from Okinawan mythology, resembling a cross between a lion and a dog.
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Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Sayaka Mizuki, Utae Ehara, Adriana Dobanda Shiro Kayano, Kenji Sekine, Jeffry Gayman, Hiroshi Maruyama, Hideaki Uemura, Robert Duckworth for providing encouragement, and for giving constructive feedback during the writing process.
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Hammine, M. (2019). Indigenous in Japan? The Reluctance of the Japanese State to Acknowledge Indigenous Peoples and Their Need for Education. In: Kortekangas, O., Keskitalo, P., Nyyssönen, J., Kotljarchuk, A., Paksuniemi, M., Sjögren, D. (eds) Sámi Educational History in a Comparative International Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24112-4_13
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