Issue:
November 2026 | Letter from Hokkaido
Sapporo is moving forward with new guidelines for Ainu-related displays and symposiums in public spaces after it was criticized for allowing events that questioned whether the Ainu were truly an indigenous people.
Local residents, some connected to the rightwing Nippon Kaigi, sponsored displays in the city’s underground pedestrian space in September 2025 and March 2026 that questioned the history of the Ainu, arguing they may not be indigenous. The displays sparked condemnation from Ainu groups and human rights activists who demanded the city forbid anti-Ainu propaganda.
After several months, Sapporo released a report at the end of August on how officials might handle requests from individuals or groups seeking to use city property to spread their message about the Ainu.
If the municipal assembly adopts the guidelines, Sapporo will become Japan’s first city to have explicit rules that could effectively ban rentals of city property to local groups who use it in order to attack the Ainu or deny their rights as an indigenous people.
At the same time, the mayor and city officials are cautious about adopting new guidelines. They cite the need to balance policies that respect the Ainu and are in accordance with Japan’s Ainu policy with freedom of speech and the risk of having new regulations overturned by the court.
“The fundamental idea behind this report is to realize a society where the pride of the Ainu people is respected. Towards this goal, while taking care not to excessively restrict freedom of expression within the framework of existing laws and Supreme Court precedents, the report states that unjust discriminatory speech and actions against the Ainu people will not be tolerated,” Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto told reporters Sept. 1.
Akimoto will step down when his term finishes next spring. Possible successors are sure to face questions about their views on the Ainu and how to prevent attacks on them. How large the issue will loom in a city where problems such as effective and cost-efficient snow removal and basic local economic and social welfare issues are the top concerns is uncertain, but it’s unlikely to be swept under the rug, given all of the attention.
The recommendations, when a civic group applies to rent or use municipal property, the approval criteria should be based on whether or not specific words or actions of the group constitute discrimination against the Ainu people. That is to be determined by comprehensively considering various circumstances and whether such words and actions violate the spirit of the Ainu Policy Promotion Act and the Hate Speech Elimination Act.
If Sapporo officials decide there is a clear and imminent danger that fundamental human rights will be violated due to “unjust discriminatory speech or conduct,” and this danger is clearly predictable, the application may be rejected.
Permission can also be refused if the city decides that there is a high probability that "unjust discriminatory speech or conduct" will occur during the use of the facility, which may lead to disputes and disrupt the management of the facility.
Ainu groups and activists have welcomed the recommendation that new guidelines (1) reflect a deeper understanding of the pain and dignity of the Ainu people; (2) make clear Sapporo will not tolerate unjust discriminatory speech and actions against the Ainu; and (3) approve events that do not include content that forces the Ainu to refute it.
A fierce debate over whether to implement the recommendations as is, or alter or water them down, is expected in the city assembly in the coming months. A lack of specific laws, ordinances and regulations setting out the parameters on speech about the Ainu in public facilities gives city bureaucrats enormous discretion in weighing an application from any civic group, but it’s unclear how far the city assembly, where the Liberal Democratic Party is the largest party, is willing to go in terms of specific language for the new guidelines.
Nevertheless, the debate over the guidelines for Sapporo is likely to have a ripple effect on other Hokkaido communities and test local assemblies’ commitment to protecting the Ainu and making efforts to follow national policies on respecting and promoting Ainu culture everywhere, all the time. Not just in a few select locations such as the National Ainu Museum, and not just when it’s convenient for local politicians to use “respect for the Ainu” as a campaign slogan or media soundbite.
The debate in Sapporo over the guidelines has finally forced local officials and residents to confront the practical challenges of turning national measures on the Ainu into local practices. The final decision of the city may be accepted or challenged in court, but it is certain to be a milestone that will shape the larger debate about what it means on a very personal, individual level to “respect the Ainu.”
Eric Johnston is the Senior National Correspondent for The Japan Times. Views expressed within are his own and not necessarily those of The Japan Times.
