from examiner.com
Indigenous people around the globe are finding their voices and rewriting history, or should it be called, correcting history, because now they are included. The film industry is another medium enabling indigenous filmmakers in their efforts to let the world know of the existence of ancient cultures thought to have long ago disappeared.
In the spring of 2007, the filming of a documentary about the Ainu culture in Tokyo was begun. The film, “TOKYO Ainu” is a series of interviews with various members of the Ainu community of Tokyo thought to have been assimilated and so no longer in existence as their original ancient culture.
The traditional homeland of the Ainu, Japan’s indigenous people, is Hokkaido, formerly Ezo. Today, the number of Ainu living in greater Tokyo has been estimated to be between 5,000 and 10,000. The major city offers economic advantages and the people suffer less discrimination according to one interviewee who has participated in the film.
In the film, Ainu who have relocated to Tokyo but have retained their Ainu identity, reveal how their culture affects their life among other Japanese who don’t understand them and what pressures they must deal with.
Like other indigenous cultures, the Ainu also experienced the loss of their ancestral land and means for survival. Under the Meiji government from 1861 to 1868, the Ainu were chased from their villages and prevented from practicing their traditional hunting, fishing and other customs.
Also, like other cultures, the Ainu were forced to live under a new policy of assimilation so that the Meiji government could develop and exploit Hokkaido’s natural resources.
The film, “Tokyo Ainu,” is the first of many Ainu films to come, I am sure. It will allow the present generation of Ainu to define themselves and to leave an outline for future generations.
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