*The same author translates this article from the original Japanese article (Rukunne); 「アシリパさんの和名を使用する時に少し立ち止まって考えて欲しいことがある。 (There is a big issue we need to be concerned about if you want to call Asiripa by her Japanese Name (Kochoube Asuko)」
However, I only translated some contents in the Japanese article because there were many topics I wanted to notice to people who had a conflict on this issue on Twitter at the time. I translated only my short article（with revision for English speakers.）to understand the History of Ainu people and Japanese, also microaggressions toward Ainu in Japan today.
*I strongly request/ask people who read this article and realise “Asiripa’s Japanese Name” ’s problem: DO NOT feel sorry quickly for people with various roots who use their own Japanese name today. They might love their own name, which living their life today with. I already saw a tweet expressing “sad emotion” because many children directly said, “Sorry for your Japanese name”, only because they have an Ainu root and a Japanese name. Nobody is allowed easily be sorry for the name of others without knowing any background which might be given to them by their parents/godfathers with respect. This article pointed out “Asiripa’s Japanese Name” problem, never criticised a personal Japanese name today.
*I decided to translate this article because I realised that even some Japanese fans did not know this cruel Japanese history and microaggression toward Ainu people, and those who just knew about Ainu people and the Meiji era in Japan with Golden Kamuy hardly will understand and know these kinds of discrimination and history of Japanese society. And I am afraid that the same situation will be occurred and hurt many people again.
*I fixed some parts that spoiled the story, but I wrote this article after reading all episodes. If you don't like spoiling the story, please read ahead the Golden Kamuy, at least until around episode 45.
*Main topics of this article are discrimination, inequality, and unfairness, which are constructed in Japanese society. Many aggressive words were sent toward minority people in this Asiripa’s name conflict, but I did not pick up each cruel word in this article. However, Please stop reading this once and take a rest if you feel too bad to face these discriminations while reading this article.
*I added a case of comments by GK fans with assimilationism toward Ainu people in the section "The privilege of the Majority: I never hurt anyone because I never feel it." of the article. (Nov. 4th 2022)
Introduction
This article’s purpose is to keep our discussion about “the issue of using Asiripa’s Japanese name in Fandom” and to keep the conversation with others, including newcomers/Fans, about this serious issue and not to let these problems forget.
I wrote a short article below on 7th June 2022 and uploaded it to Fusetter (another Japanese service for extended writing). I replaced it on my blog and picked up several comments and questions from my Shitsumon-Bako (Questions Box: a Japanese service for anonymising messages) about this issue and my short article. *Japanese ver. Uploaded on 12th June 2022, English ver. Uploaded on 3ed November 2022.
In the summer of 2021, an account tweeted and pointed out this problem: “Why do Japanese fandom use Asiripa’s Japanese name ‘Asuko’ in their creation?”. However, few people were concerned about this at the time, and some even showed offensive attitudes to the person who spoke up.
After almost a year passed, in May 2022, after the last episode of “Golden Kamuy” came out, the fandom was excited about everything described on the Golden Kamuy. Another account spoke out again about this issue: “Why do Japanese(Wajin) fandom use Asiripa’s Japanese name ‘Asuko’ in their creation?”, terrible comments attacks, HATE speech to the account this time, maybe because he/she stated his/her roots of Ainu.
My article uploaded on Fusetter was viewed 5000 times. Some other articles/notes about this conflict/hate case were uploaded, and one RTed over 2000 times. Many people started spork out this matter from various positions.
The “Golden Kamuy” this manga is fabulous and attractive because its detailed description and expression. The author described these cultures and history with much research material and support from many people. However, some people feel sad about how they are expressed and treated in the story and fandom. We must face a big issue and be concerned about it as fans of Golden Kamuy. I would like you to stay with us and consider this as a Golden Kamuy's fan.
"There is a big issue we need to be concerned about if you want to call Asiripa by her Japanese Name (Kochoube Asuko)."
Asiripa is a girl with a root of Ainu and adventures in Hokkaido with Sugimoto Saichi in the manga of Golden Kamuy. The problem of the Fandom creation using her “Japanese name(和名：Wamei)” was already pointed out in the Summer of 2021. However, watching the “discussion” of this problem on Twitter in June 2022, I found that many (might be a Japanese/Wajin fan) do not understand the situation of “discrimination” or “inquiry” and “deprivation of a right”.
People who keep wanting to use Asiripa’s Japanese name and who couldn’t understand why they are criticised, not like a person who never knew the History and culture of Ainu and Wajin, but seem to have difficulty understanding the situation of assimilation problem. They don’t understand the situation of inequality and rights infringement on other ethnic groups or people.
This lack of perspective makes things more difficult to solve. Because they never feel “wrong”. So they keep expressing questions and words that are definitely discriminatory without hesitation. So this article will try to explain the situation of inequality and what the right of an individual chose, and clarify the “Pain” and “Suffering”, which is hard to know from the perspective of watching only the surface.
Background: Why did Asiripa have a Japanese name.
First, I explain why the Ainu people have the Japanese name. Some people already know. The Meiji government forced these Japanese names; the Ainu people needed a Japanese name for registration in the “national” office.
The Japanese government dispossess not only their name but also their culture, habit, and living place, which are directly connected with their ethnic identity. Intense discrimination from Japanese society also makes them not speak their own language and even not feel free to speak out the root of Ainu in their life. They had a tough time living and distorted their lifestyle because the Japanese government took the place of Ainu mosir (Hokkaido) to live, hunt and fish (ex. Kayano Shigeru "Ainu no Hi(Our Land Was A Forest: An Ainu Memoir)"1990(1994); ‘Hokkaido Indigenous People Protection Act’ 1899 ). Actually, these colonisations have taken place since the Edo era.
However, these historical crises were not stopping people who wanted to use Asiripa’s Japanese Name. Hence, I put here several examples to understand the social morals and situation of discrimination and inequality.
“Marley’s arm Band”: Describes discrimination in fiction.
You know “Attack on Titan”? This is also a very famous Japanese Manga/Anime. An issue had been pointed out before about its commerce product inspiration from the “Attack on Titan”. The product of “Marley’s arm Band”, if you know the story, you feel so bad about this “commerce product” for fans. This armband uses stigma against the Marley people. It is the symbol of control and discrimination in the story. There is no doubt that Marley’s armband was inspired by Natis. Jewish people were forced to wear the armband marked Star of David under Nazi control.
Many people rapidly agreed with this moral issue regarding the product. Even if the “fiction”, it shows their stance as “this story is not related to any other real existing person, organisation, and cases. (この物語はフィクションであり、実在の人物・団体・出来事とは一切関係ありません)”, we still have the responsibility and morals as a fan not to consume a representation of discrimination.
Is the Asiripa’s name described as a clear expression of discrimination in the “Golden Kamuy” ’s story? I cannot guarantee it. Even if I knew the discrimination and History of Ainu, the expression was hard to pick up. Before Sugimoto knew her Japanese name, there was another scene they talked about her Japanese name. An older man who does not tell his name (Asiripa-san was already asleep in the scene) asks Sugimoto about her Japanese name, and Sugimoto responds, “I never heard”.（Golden Kamuy 5:ep.44, 2015)
If it is in Anime, Sugimoto seems more aggressively to express discomfort. However, we still don’t know his expression against the anonymous old man or the Japanese name that was given to her forced by the government (and might he know the Ainu people’s situation?)
After this encounter, they finally met her father’s best friend “Kiroranke”, and knew her Japanese name “Kochoube Asuko（小蝶辺明日子）”. There was no explanation about why she has two names in the Ainu language and Japanese. So if you don’t know about the History of Ainu and Japanese, you will never realise if it was a representation of the assimilation policy which actually happened in Ainu mosir (Hokkaido).
Still, after you already know the situation of the Ainu people in the period Maiji, it is not difficult to understand why some people are concerned about this “Asiripa’s Japanese Name”. In the “Golden Kamuy”, no people on her side call her by her Japanese name, especially Sugimoto never calls her “Asuko”. It was just a registered name. Only “Asiripa” was her name in the story.
Nevertheless, why are there some people who adhere to the use of “Asiripa's Japanese Name" and never understand what was the problem with it? Why couldn't the people concern with the person who spoke out about this matter? However, they became very aggressive, started attacking with the reply, and sprayed hate speech at other Ainu people who had just joined the discussion and the person who was asking, "think together"?
The privilege of the Majority: I never hurt anyone because I never feel it.
It might be because the majority of people who want to use the "Asiripa's Japanese Name" were "Japanese/Wajin" who have "Japanese Name".
They argue, "I'm using my Japanese Name, never feel any suffering, never feel sorry for it"; these words might come from a "particular" personal perspective; and "how could a Japanese Name be bad?"; it's a very ethnocentric perspective.
Same said, "It's more natural that she uses her Japanese name if she lives in modern Japanese society; because there is no Ainu name person in Japan today. (*they want to use her Japanese name for their creation of AU in modern Japan. )"; Why her Japanese name could be more natural than her Ainu name "Asiripa"? They seem to have strong assimilationism toward Ainu name, culture and everything. Yes, some people have an Ainu name in modern Japan; why not? Still, it is hard to speak out about their roots to other Japanese.
Some also argue that "Asiripa will allow me to use her Japanese name"; this is crazy because she is just a fictional character, and we are concerned about the creator's choice, not hers, who has no right to choose. I want to tell them loudly, “Do not reassessment your responsibility to a fictional teenage girl.”
There were more horrible sayings I found on Twitter at the time, but I'm not picking up all of them. These distorted perceptions make them continue to use "Asiripa's Japanese Name". And if they were criticised, they were mad at the person who pointed it out because "I'm never doing any wrong! But they criticised me!"
Some people didn't know about this problem and were not concerned about it before, but after they understood this matter seriously, they deleted all content which used "Asiripa's Japanese Name".
Focus on the Right to Choose.
Here, we need to understand that this concern about "Asiripa's Japanese Name" is not criticised on any other "Japanese Name" today using with respect. Each name has a life, given with love and respect. Others cannot judge it arbitrarily. We need to think about this here once separately.
Even so, "Asiripa's Japanse Name" has a background of assumption policy by the Japanese Gourvement. If you think about "Japanese Name", the fact on the surface seems all the same. But we cannot agree or have the same conclusion because it just seems "Same Fact", but Backgroud is different.
One person is starving without food, and another is fasting with their choice. They are the same "hungry" people but think about their human rights. It is totally different. One has no option to escape the situation, meaning not having a right to choose. Is there any choice to make? This is significant. (2004 Sen Amartya "Element of a Theory of Human Rights")
We cannot appreciate the person saying, "you have a nice experience feeling hungry! " if they suffer because they have been deprived of rights.
We can't consume "Asiripa's Japanese Name" as entertainment without noticing any history of Ainu, especially Japanese fans. They/we are the majority who discriminated against them and destroyed their life before. Some said we didn't have any responsibility in the past because "I'm not done anything". YES, we are still responsible for the past because we live in " this society consists of the past".
I'm not trying to criticise every content, fanart or person using "Asiripa's Japanese Name". However, as a fan of this Story and Characters, please stay with us once and think about this together, about these painful tragedies that once happened in the History of Ainu and also in the fandom of Golden Kamuy today.
And when you think about all matters around "Golden Kamuy", Please pay attention to the reality of the Ainu people's situation, opinions, and history.
Here I discussed Japanese society and Ainu people; however, you may find the same kind of situation, discrimination, and unfairness in this world. And in other cases, you and I might be a majority or minority. I would like to ask you again, if you find these, please stay with us once, and concern about it together. These issues are always too big to face alone, but you are not alone.
References:
1990(1994); Kayano Shigeru "Ainu no Hi(Our Land Was A Forest: An Ainu Memoir)".
1899 ‘Hokkaido Indigenous People Protection Act'.（1899年「旧土人保護法（明治32年３月2日公布）」『官報』第4697号：国立図書館デジタルアーカイブス：https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2947988）
2021 Asahi Shinbun Digital 'Malay's Band; a product of "Attack on Titan" is selling discontinued, with an Apology for critics of "Nazis is inspired".（2021年11月15日 19時10分「進撃の巨人」マーレの腕章、販売中止に 「ナチス想起」批判で謝罪：朝日新聞デジタル https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASPCH67BQPCHUTIL028.html）
2021 Yahoo Answers 'Why 'Malay's band' should be selling discontinued?'（2021年11月16日「「進撃の巨人」マーレの腕章ってそんなにダメなグッズでしょうか？」： Yahoo知恵袋 https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q12252584817）
2015 Golden Kamuy 5.
2004 Sen Amartya 'Element of a Theory of Human Rights'.