ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the changing paradigm of the Japanese identities reflected in the historical narrative of Hokkaido in relation to the indigenous Ainu. The local newspaper, reported that the bombing of 'the Ainu monument', as it was known to the local people, occurred at exactly the same time as a bomb exploded in the hallway of Hokkaido University, where Ainu artefacts were displayed. Since 2012, international visitors arriving in Hokkaido via Shin-Chitose Airport, the closest airport to Sapporo, have been greeted by an exhibit on Ainu heritage assembled by the Ainu Museum in Shiraoi. Today's physical landscape of Hokkaido's capital city Sapporo still represents an all too familiar national narrative of the 'founding' of Hokkaido in the nineteenth century. The Pioneer Memorial Museum at Nopporo Park was soon to be officially renamed the Museum of Hokkaido and reorganized to place more emphasis on the history and culture of Ainu and Hokkaido within Northeast Asia.
