Abstract
The National Ainu Museum was opened in July 2020 as one of core facilities of UPOPOY: National Ainu Museum and Park. UPOPOY was established as “a national center for the revitalization of Ainu culture.” The museum’s mission is to, “respect the dignity of the Ainu as an indigenous people, promote proper recognition and understanding about the Ainu history and culture, and contribute to the creation and further growth of new Ainu culture,” and it engages in exhibitions, education and dissemination, research and investigation, human resource development, reservation and management of museum collections, and the establishment of museum networks. This paper analyzes, from an anthropological point of view, the reports of the advisory panels, committees, and working groups organized by the Japanese government to promote Ainu policy, and it discusses the process of the museum’s establishment and the expected roles the museum is expected to play. As a result, the following points become clear: 1) researchers, museum curators, and other members of the panels, committees, and working groups made a decisive change in their recognition of Ainu culture in the process of their discussion concerning Ainu policy during the second decade of the twenty-first century, and this change prompted the establishment of the national museum specializing in Ainu culture, 2) the mission and management policy of the museum followed the latest international developments in the redefinition of museums, and the museum is expected to promote this redefinition.
