Japan builds 'Ethnic Harmony' tribute to indigenous Ainu

I believe this when Japanese government teaches Ainu language to Ainu children.

Their culture all but almost destroyed.

Give the people back their lands, or offer reparations at the very least.

They can't offer an apology for taking their land and all but annihilating their culture because it would be uncomfortable?

That just shows that there is no "Ethnic Harmony", therefore, this little project is meaningless.

A compelling theory is that the Ainu were the first humans to reach North America, following the kelp forests by boat across the Aleutians.

This is too little, too late. The money would have been better spent on surveying what remains of the living culture in order to preserve it, not remembering as if it were dead... it's quite distasteful in the way it's been carried out to cash in on the Olympics, I doubt much of the proceeds will go towards any meaningful measures to support the people it is supposed to represent

I hope the Ainu people, and all other people for that matter, don't fall for this. It's posturing for votes or money or compliance or whatever else the Japanese government does for anyone. It's not done in the interests of the Ainu people that's for sure

What a thoroughly depressing article.

Giving back forest where Ainu once hunted and foraged, he said, would "be hard for the Japanese people to accept."

Why? How does he know, did he ask them all?

And he added that an apology would be uncomfortable for many Japanese

Because the important thing isn't honestly dealing with the Ainu's requests, it's avoiding making Japanese people feel uncomfortable.

"It would focus people's attention on the bad things that happened and not the future," he said.

So let's just ignore the uncomfortable past and pretend it never happened. Now, where have I heard that before?

Scholars say the Ainu settled in Japan's northernmost island and across Sakhalin, Russia, by the 1300s.

Who are these people? What are they talking about? What year is 1300? Do they even know the story? Or do they even have Wikipedia not working? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C5%8Dmon_period

Harmony is a euphemism for something far more sinister.