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Hokkaidō Aborigines Await Dmitry Medvedev
// Japanese towns compete for the right to receive Russia’s new president during the G8 summit
During his debut at the G8 summit in July on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaidō, Russia’s next president Dmitry Medvedev might receive an offer to meet with indigenous bear-worshipping people. Other competitors for the right to receive Medvedev are a local seaport town with a Russian Orthodox church in it, and a fishermen’s town which has become a stronghold of the struggle for the South Kuril islands. ITAR-TASS correspondent Vasily Golovnin reports from Tokyo, specially for Kommersant.
Invitation from Ainu People
Eight years ago, when the G8 summit was hosted by Japan at its southern island of Okinawa, high-ranking foreign guests were taken to different Japanese towns after the official discussion, so that they could establish personal contact with the public. Vladimir Putin went to Gushikawa, a town of 60,000 people. There he opened a monument devoted to Russian-Japanese friendship, and visited a municipal sports center, where he unexpectedly took off his jacket and held unscheduled fight with a local 15-year-old judoist, who was astounded by the attention. Japan still remembers how the Russian president artfully put the guy down on his back, and then was thrown onto tatami in his turn.
Japan is to host the upcoming G8 summit on July 7-9 on Hokkaidō. So, it decided to organize something similar, and there is already a queue for Dmitry Medvedev, said sources in the summit’s organizing committee. The interest is easy to understand: the Hokkaidō island is directly adjacent to Russia, and up to 80 percent of local foreign trade is with Russia. According to latest data, the most exotic invitation came from Shiraoi town, home to a cultural center of Ainu – an ethnic group once living in the Kurils and Japan’s north, then almost completely destroyed and assimilated by the Japanese nation.
There now are less than 30,000 Ainu people in Japan. The Shiraoi Ainu Museum keeps in touch with the Anthropology and Ethnography Museum in St. Petersburg, and Ainu people consider themselves related to small nations of Russia’s Far East. They would like to show to Medvedev their ancient rites, mostly linked to the bear cult. The most outstanding rite is a ceremony of asking pardon from a bear killed at a hunt. So, there are some doubts that the Shiraoi Ainu Museum has big chances to see the new Russian president in July.
Lieutenant Laxman’s Skates
Another applicant for receiving Medvedev, the fishermen’s town of Nemuro at Hokkaidō’s north-east, has weak chances as well. It overlooks Kunashir and minor South Kuril islands. The town is definitely unique: street signs are in Russian, and local restaurants and bars immediately serve a menu in Russian to any European-looking foreigner. Nemuro is flooded by Russian fishermen. Unfortunately, it has a reputation of a major center for illegal import of seafood gathered in Russia’s economic zone.
Inviting Medvedev, the local authorities point at history. It was Nemuro where in October 1792 the first Russian diplomatic mission, headed by Lieutenant Adam Laxman, arrived onboard “St. Catherine” galliot, so as to establish relations with mysterious Japan. In the time free from negotiations, the Russian ambassadors skated, giving birth to that sport in Japan. However, unfortunately, Nemuro is the stronghold of the movement for the South Kurils, financed by the Japanese government.
Nemuro hosts a monument to the struggle for “bringing back the Northern Territories” and an eternal fire, along with smaller monuments of same meaning. There are posters depicting a beast-like Red Army soldier who tramples the invaded islands with his boots. Moreover, Nemuro Region is home to most Japanese forced out from the South Kurils after the WWII, and many of them are eager to tell the new Russian president about their hardships.
Clipper “Dzhigit” and First Consulate
At this background, the application from the seaport city of Hakodate at Hokkaidō’s southern coast looks far better. This year, Hakodate is going to celebrate the 150th anniversary of opening the first Russian consulate in Japan. Its first employees arrived to the local harbor onboard “Dzhigit” clipper on October 24, 1858. The delegation was headed by collegiate counselor Iosif Goshkevich, future luminary of Japan studies in Russia. At first, the consulate was deployed in two Buddhist temples, and then separate buildings were built. The latter of them was built in 1908, and is celebrating its anniversary now. The building is regarded as Hakodate’s tourist attraction, as well as the Russian Orthodox Christ’s Resurrection Temple located there. It was built in 1916, and has become the city’s acknowledged symbol, although most Japanese do not even suspect the white-walled church’s Russian origin.
Hakodate also hosts a branch of the Russian Far Eastern State University. In February, the city was unofficially visited by the Russian president’s Representative in the Far East Federal District Oleg Safonov. He promised to tell Medvedev about the local authorities’ invitation. Apparently, that is the invitation to be accepted.
Vasily Golovnin
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 03, 2008
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