List of Issues:

1. While the Act Concerning the Promotion of Ainu Culture and the Enlightenm ent and Education of Ainu Tradition (the Ainu Cultural Promotion Act) was enacted in May 1997, apparently discrimination against the indigenous Ainu people still remains. Has the Japanese government framed policies to eliminate discrimination against the Ainu people beside legislation?
   
   
2. Does the Japanese government have concrete policies to maintain and protect Ainu traditional culture in relation to planning and enforcing development projects?

Background:

1. The findings of the fourth "Survey on the Hokkaido Utari Living Conditions" (Prefectural Government of Hokkaido, 1993) show that discrimination does exist on the daily life level. Out of experiences for the past 6 - 7 years, 7.3% answered they were discriminated in person, and 10.1% responded that someone else was. Regarding the scene of discrimination, 42.0% took place at school, 23.2% on marriage, 17.9% at offices, and 9.8% on employment.
   
   School stands out as the scene of discrimination (42%), and this fact should not be overlooked. Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child reads as its aims in education:
   
   

   The development of respect for the child's parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values ... and for civilizations different from this or her own; The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin

   
   In order to eliminate discrimination, it is indispensable to incorporate the above aims in the curriculum of compulsory education, that is, at the primary and junior high school level, so that discriminatory feelings could be rooted out in the early stage of one's lives.
   
   Apparently, the Ainu Cultural Promotion Act of May 1997 fails to hold the eradication of discrimination as its basic principle. Despite the fact that the Hokkaido Utari Association has consistently requested a law that aims to abolish discrimination in society, the chief concern of this new law is solely directed to the promotion of Ainu culture.
   
   The Government Report says to take welfare measures in order to eliminate the gap of living standards between the Ainu and the general public of Hokkaido, as uncovered by the Survey on the Utari Living Conditions (Government Report, pp. 99-100). Welfare measures should be taken, but they alone cannot eradicate discrimination in daily life.
   
   Concrete measures to abolish discrimination are therefore needed. In particular, stress is due on the needs of those in school.
   
   
2. The prefectural government of Hokkaido constructed a dam in Nibutani, giving no consideration whatsoever to the fact that Nibutani had been a sacred land for the Ainu. Nibutani is a crucial site for Ainu's ceremony. By constructing a dam in that area, the government is violating Ainu's right to enjoy their culture. The court recognized this violation, but another claim to nullify the dam construction was not sustained as it had been already completed (March, 1997).
   
   The Ainu Cultural Promotion Act of 1997 aims to widely protect and promote culture and tradition of the Ainu. Prior to this legislation, "Round Table on the Policy for the Ainu People" proposed more concretely a policy to revivify the traditional living space of the Ainu.
   
   Since "public interests" tend to be interpreted as those of majority, it should be asked how, then, the rights of minority are to be protected where the two interests conflict in the public development project. The policy and its specific measures need to be clarified as well.