초록 열기/닫기 버튼
This study is to critically examine political dynamism in Russia-Japan relations over the boundary-demarcation of Ainu Moshiri, oft-known as Hokkaido. In the previous studies on the issue of boundary -demarcation between Russia and Japan especially over Northen Territories(Kuril Islands), lacks the perspective of Ainu, the native people of the area at issue. This lack is critically important because it is in the same line with the political claims that both Russia and Japan have made that they have international rights of annexing "unmanned land" by "occupation." Given the implications that such discourses have, this study tries to bring in the perspective of Ainu, and to historically focus on the working of the logic both Russia and Japan commonly used in the annexation, namely the occupation of unmanned land. This study concludes that Japan in Tokugawa era was responsive to Russia's initial developments of its imperialist expansion and started its own efforts of boundary-demarcation, and that Ainu was forced to lose its way of nation-building in these processes. Overall, this study tries to shed new light on the issue of boundary-demarcation of the native land in this post-colonial era.
