Creating the Frontier: Border, Identity and History in Japan’s Far North
Author(s)
Morris-Suzuki, Tessa
Abstract
Examines the evolving relationship between the expanding Japanese state and the peoples and cultures in the northern island of Hokkaido. Several wars and ongoing economic subjugation in the 17th century and later reduced the independence and self-sufficiency of the Ainu and other Hokkaido peoples. This led to Japanese introduction of capital-intensive fisheries and Japanese-style agriculture. The 19th-century Japanese effort to impose a uniform national identity on Hokkaido peoples was a significant part of the Japanese state’s modern nation-building effort.
