TOKYO, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government on Friday approved a bill officially recognizing the Ainu ethnic group in northern Japan as an indigenous people of the nation.
The bill, which for the first time legally stipulates that the Ainu group are an indigenous people in Japan, is also aimed at boosting the culture of the people through financial assistance.
"We will implement comprehensive support measures, including the promotion of Ainu culture and industry, under our future-oriented Ainu policy," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press briefing on the matter.
Suga, Japan's top government spokesperson, made the remarks after the bill was endorsed in a Cabinet meeting earlier on Friday.
The new bill purports to help in the creation of a society for the Ainu group in which they can take pride in their heritage.
The bill states that it aims to "realize a society where the Ainu people can live with their ethnic pride, which will be respected."
The Ainu group for many hundreds of years have lived in northern regions of Japan, including the northernmost main island of Hokkaido, and surrounding areas and islands.
Their language and culture came under threat in the beginning of the Meiji Era when Japan went through a period of modernization and tried to assimilate the Ainu people.
A previous piece of legislation enacted in 1997 was aimed at preserving the Ainu culture, but did not recognize the people as being indigenous.
The new bill will aim to help the Ainu people maintain their traditional ways and a deregulation of laws will allow them to collect wood from national forests and catch fish in rivers, in their time-honored, traditional ways.
The government also said it is planning to open a national Ainu museum and park in April 2020, in Shiraoi town in Hokkaido.
The head of the Ainu Association of Hokkaido, Tadashi Kato, while praising the bill to a certain extent, stated that it does not contain ways to improve the living standards of the Ainu people, and fell someway short of his expectations.
