Medium Post #1

As many extensions of the Tokugawa regime started, it would first arise from a Japanese interest for trade relations. Through the eyes of an Ainu person, I would imagine that it would be alarming at first to be exposed to Japanese culture, technology, or language that would appear very alien. Due to the fact that the Tokugawa expansion had intentions of eventually overpowering neighboring populations, the assertion of Japanese authority through military power would spark fear in the Ainu out of a sense of losing their homes, identity, or culture in favor of Japanese.

As a result of the direct takeover of Ainu land by the Tokugawa shogunate, the lives of the Ainu would change immediately in that they would have to be at the disposal of the Japanese and relocate to make space for Japanese colonial settlements. Over a longer period of time, Ainu people would be affected by a loss of culture, language, and identity. On an everyday basis it would feel helpless, oppressed, and uncertain of the future as an Ainu person. The Ainu language itself would be one of the aspects of Ainu culture that would be the most likely to persevere as it would still be the only way they could communicate with one other and would take generations of Japanese assimilation in order to weaken. Alike this, the Ainu food culture would also persist to modern times due to the usage of permanent local specialties Mason lists on page 33 as “potatoes, corn, and beer”.

Putting myself in the shoes of the Ainu, I would notice the endangerment of my culture, identity, and way of life and respond by teaching these customs and traditions to the next generation so that way the Ainu culture is not lost through Japanese imperialism. In addition, the forced obedience and piety for the Japanese emperor would not resonant with me and frankly make me angered. As Fujitani states on page 53, the expansion into Hokkaido (Ainu) was justified so that “all of the people of the nation will turn their eyes and see the greatness of the emperor’s conduct” and because remote areas of Japan had little knowledge or respect for the emperor.