Remains of Ainu people return to Hokkaido

TOKYO: The Japanese government plans to return to communities in Hokkaido the unidentified remains of indigenous Ainu people that were removed from cemeteries for research purposes, sources close to the matter said yesterday.

The commitment comes after Hokkaido University agreed earlier this month to return a total of 76 sets of remains taken from the Urahoro area as part of a settlement reached between the university and descendants of the deceased.

The remains of people from the indigenous ethnic group were part of more than 1,600 sets preserved at 12 public and private universities across Japan, including the University of Tokyo, after they were collected from cemeteries within Hokkaido for anthropological research from the late 19th century onwards.

Following the settlement, the central government will forgo a plan to intern the unidentified bodies in a new memorial facility to be opened in Shiraoi, a Hokkaido town where many Ainu descendants live and the Ainu Museum is located.

The government has told the Ainu Association of Hokkaido it will return the remains to Ainu groups in the regions from which they were exhumed.

Under the proposal, in order to receive remains groups must have members who are Ainu descendants from relevant areas and must continue to maintain cemeteries there.

With regard to the remains that have been identified, the government has been planning to hand them over to their families.

The Ainu, who have their own language and customs, have lived for centuries in far north Japan. But amid the persisting view among the public that Japan is ethnically homogenous, those people have long felt marginalised.