The Ainu: Beyond The Politics of Cultural Coexistence gave me an overview of the long history of how Ainu fought for their cultural independence as indigenous people in Japan. Obviously, the Japanese government took some wrong actions at the beginning that ignored the cultural heritage and their racial identities when trying to assimilate them into modern Japanese society. What particularly attracted me is the part what Tahara Ryoko commented on the new law, “Ainu culture is not limited to language or ceremonies or dance. It is Ainu life itself. Whatever happens every day within the household is Ainu culture.” (Suzuki 1999) I personally think that it is impossible to separate the cultural heritage from the land where the culture was actually nurtured. Thus, I believe the key to the success of actually realizing the “coexistence” and “reconciliation” between Ainu culture and the existing mass culture in Japan is to give them the rights to use and take control of the land where their culture was nourished. In this way, they could be “modernized” while still keeping their own cultural heritage.
The 2012 Tegner Report provided quite a lot of data that would certainly benefit us for our project. What interested me the most is the information of oysters on the menu. It’s interesting for me to see the change of oysters on the menus in different times in New York. In terms of visualising the data, I am thinking of creating a map that shows different species of oysters that were served in the restaurants according to the locations and times. We can definitely make it more interactive by showing the real pictures of oyster dishes that were served in different areas and different times.
The WCS information sheets provided information of what Wildlife Conservation Society in New York is has done and is working on right now. I am especially interested in their project of getting rid of plastic straws in NYC. I have seen a lot of news and articles on how marine animals are suffering from the pollution of plastics. Whales are killed every year from plastic bags in the marine environment since they often mistake plastic bags for food like jellyfish. I’m happy to see that organisations are putting efforts on this topic and I hope that more countries and government can pay attention to this topic and start to take actions.
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