On March 7, 2002 members of Ainu community have lost the lawsuit against the governor of Hokkaido, who was appointed as a management authority paying back Ainu assets. The Ainu have disagreed with how Hokkaido government managed their assets, which included educational funds, earnings from government fishing projects and income from the use of Ainu farmland. The judge ruled in favor of the governor, Tatsuya Hori, despite the fact that he did not specify who would receive the money and how much. According to Ainu representatives, the Hokkaido government has not allocated the funds in a way that benefits the Ainu.
Ainu, the indigenous people of northern Japan, have only recently been officially recognized as an indigenous group. Historically, the Ainu have been deprived of their cultural and civil rights. Additionally, an official assimilation process launched stripped many from access to their cultural roots and traditions, denying their rights to the lands and other possessions.
In 1899 the Hokkaido government passed the Aborigine Protection Law, which handed over the management of the Ainu assets to the governor because there was a notion that the Ainu needed to be protected, since they were judged incompetent to make their own decisions , especially financial. What the law really aimed to do was to assimilate the indigenous group through gradual employment and Japanese education. It was not until 1997, that a Japanese government passed the law, which sought to preserve Ainu culture and protect their human rights. Through the law the government became responsible for paying money to the Ainu that was generated from use of the Ainu assets. Despite the changes in the legislation, the cultural marginalization and discrimination still remains to this day.
The lawyer Hiroyasu Murmatsu, representing the Ainu, was appalled by the judge’s decision, saying that “…it does not accept the Ainu’s simple claim to see the management of the assets.” According to him, the Ainu are planning to appeal the ruling.
