Shiraoi, Hokkaido ¨C It¡¯s a cold February morning on the banks of Lake Poroto in Shiraoi, Hokkaido. A white blanket of ice and snow covers the water ¡ª only footprints lead toward the center of the lake, where holes have been drilled into the frozen surface.
These are spots for freshwater smelt fishing, an ancient tradition which, like so many others in Hokkaido, has been passed down from the indigenous Ainu people who have for centuries called this island home.
Shiraoi¡¯s name also comes from indigenous Ainu language, where shirauoi means ¡°a place of many horse flies.¡± This small town of around 16,000 residents and one of several active Ainu communities in Hokkaido was also chosen to host the , which opened its doors on the shores of Lake Poroto in July 2020, becoming Japan¡¯s only national museum north of Tokyo¡¯s metropolitan area ¡ª and the only one dedicated to Ainu culture.
With a construction bill of over $150 million, the Upopoy is spread across more than 100,000 square meters, and its museum hosts a permanent exhibition as well as around four special showcases a year. The facility has emerged as the most tangible expression of the national government¡¯s efforts to protect and promote Ainu culture, a requirement under the Ainu Measures Promotion Act passed in 2019. Some also point to it as the latest attempt to rectify a process of forceful assimilation that, starting with the colonization of Hokkaido in 1869, caused the near-erasure of Ainu identity.
In this context, it¡¯s essential to ask whether the Upopoy, which is at the heart of a government-backed push to support Ainu-centered tourism, truly benefits not only those who visit it but the indigenous communities it¡¯s meant to support.
The government initially aimed to open the museum and park in view of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the Upopoy¡¯s opening back by three months and, since its inauguration nearly three years ago, it has attracted around 770,000 people ¡ª well under the initial, pre-pandemic target of 1 million visitors a year.
¡°School trips from all over Japan have made up a considerable portion of visitors,¡± says Masahiro Nomoto, director of the Cultural Promotion Department at , a publicly funded organization that operates the Upopoy. ¡°However, we¡¯re starting to see a rise in domestic and even international visitors.¡±
¡°The Upopoy is suitable for those who are interested in approaching Ainu culture perhaps for the first time,¡± says Hiroshi Yamato,...
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