Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Japanese Colonialism
(This article will not be able to cover all instances of Japanese colonial rule. Please keep that in mind when reading, and please click all links embedded for more information. Other websites have covered this issue in greater depth than I can ever hope to, so please give their pieces a read as well. Thank you.)
If the title is straightforward it is because that is what this piece is going to be.
Straightforward.
If you don’t know what Animal Crossing: New Horizons is, I’ll break it down for you in a few quick sentences. New Horizons is a highly anticipated installment to one of Nintendo’s beloved franchises. You play as a villager who gets to inhabit a deserted island in middle of nowhere, discovering everything it has to offer. You can build a house, invite friendly animals to inhabit your island, build up the museum, fish, etc. It’s a life simulator with a colorful and lively presentation. (You can watch the trailer below, just to get a feel for it if my quick description wasn’t enough.)
If you are here then you’re probably wondering what this has to do with Japanese colonialism.
There are numerous islands that make up Japan today, but the islands I am going to talk about specifically are Hokkaido (previously known as Ezo) and Okinawa (previously known as the Ryukyu Kingdom).
Hokkaido and Okinawa are home to two groups of indigenous peoples — the Ainu and Ryukyuans respectively. Only just last year did an official law pass in Japan that recognized the Ainu as indigenous. As reported by the Japan Times, the Ainu have criticized the legislation saying “it will not do enough to reverse historical discrimination.” The law itself is severely lacking, as it also fails to recognize the Ainu’s indigenous rights while simultaneously “treating the Ainu people as a tourist attraction.”
The Ainu people were banned from using their language, forced to abandon their traditional agriculture techniques, and like others under Japanese colonial rule were forbidden from practicing their own culture. This assimilation policy that had been enacted during Japan’s colonial rule in the 1800’s was not addressed until 1997.
The Perspective does a great job at detailing this, along with Japan’s colonial history as an empire in relation to both the Ainu and Ryukyuans. (Please read the article linked, it provides a lot of important context and history this piece doesn’t cover.)
As for the Ryukyuans, the Japanese government still refuses to acknowledge them as both a minority and indigenous people. Like the Ainu, their island was colonized and annexed during the Meiji Restoration period. And in the aftermath of World War II United States military bases now occupy 20% of all land on the island. In addition to this, the Japanese government is pushing ahead with the relocation of another military base to the island, despite the Okinawan referendum result.
Again, you are probably wondering what this has to do with New Horizons. With any piece of media it is important to understand where it comes from and who made it, regardless of how innocent it may be. Whether or not the intent was made to invoke the spirit of colonialism in a game bursting with cheerful personality, it is important to understand Japan’s history of colonial rule and how it has impacted indigenous people.
This is especially important as Japanese history revisionism is still being perpetuated and encouraged by the current ruling political party. (There are too many scandals to get into regarding Japanese history revisionism, Shinzo Abe and his involvement with the Nippon Kaigi, and the LDP, but this piece covers a bulk of scandals that happened in 2018.) Equally so, it is crucial to acknowledge Japan’s past as an empire and the government’s refusal to apologize for the atrocities committed under Japanese colonial rule.
I am not saying that Nintendo went out of their way to make something that could be perceived as insensitive, or even ignorant. I am only asking that people familiarize themselves with Japanese colonialism and why something as innocuous as discovering a deserted island can be read as colonialism — especially within the context of a Japanese game.
As an end, if you would like to keep up with Japanese politics, or even do some research on your own, I encourage it. A great English speaking news source is The Mainichi.
Sources:
(Some articles are locked behind paywalls.)
- The Japan Times, Japan enacts law recognizing Ainu as indigenous, but activists say it falls short of U.N. declaration, 2019
- The Japan Times, ‘Empty words’: Rights groups say Japan’s bill recognizing Ainu as indigenous group falls short, 2019
- The Perspective, Ainu Rights In Japan: Is Recognition Enough?, 2019
- Minority Rights, Ryukyuans (Okinawans), Updated April 2018
- Reuters, Japan to push ahead with U.S. base relocation despite Okinawa referendum result, 2019
- The Asia-Pacific Journal, Nippon Kaigi: Empire, Contradiction, and Japan’s Future, 2016
- Jacobin, Abe’s Japan Is a Racist, Patriarchal Dream, 2018
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