Hometowners’ Friendship and Cooperation: Responses to the Japanese Assimilation Program in Osami Gizou’s Karafuto Ainu Novel “What the Japanese Taught Me”

Title

Hometowners’ Friendship and Cooperation: Responses to the Japanese Assimilation Program in Osami Gizou’s Karafuto Ainu Novel “What the Japanese Taught Me”

Author

Shu-ju LIU

Page

155-191

DOI

10.6163/TJEAS.201912_16(2).0005

Abstract

　　Discussions on the Ainu have been extremely marginalized in analyses of prewar Japanese colonial literature. This paper thus on Osami Gizou’s only Karafuto Ainu novel “What the Japanese Taught Me,” especially on how the novel responds to Japan’s education program for assimilating the Ainu. It attempts to shed light on the historical significance of the novel, analyze the nature of Ainu literature, and explore the equivocality of Japanese colonial literature.
　　This research concludes that Osami imputes the death of the mixed Japanese-Ainu protagonist to several reasons. It includes the egoism of the modern East Asian countries, Japanese education, space for allowing the Japanese and the Ainu to develop intimacy, and the formation of hostility to Russia. All of these reasons result in the protagonist’s “revolt” against Russia and suicide. Osami by focusing on the protagonist’s tragedy intends to manifest the success of the Japanese assimilation program and accuse Japan of oppressing the Ainu. The novel is concerned about the colonial society and full of humanitarianism. It, however, takes it for granted that the Ainu wanted to “become Japanese.” Such conservative argument leads the piece of work to fail to transcend the framework of nationalism or stay away from its cooperation with national policy.

Keyword

Osami Gizou, Karafuto Ainu, Treaty of Saint Petersburg(1875), Assimilation Program, Saigō Takamori

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