Nibutani Dam


Nibutani Dam is a dam on the Saru River in Hokkaidō, Japan, which stands at Nibutani in Biratori town, Saru District. Work on the dam began in 1990. It was completed in March 1997, despite objections from the local Ainu people.

Controversy

The building of the dam pit the Japanese government versus local Ainu. In a legal case filed by two Ainu landowners, Tadashi Kaizawa and Shigeru Kayano, the farmers claimed the government had illegally seized their land in February 1989. The expropriation of land for dam violated their rights as Ainu for the protection of their cultural heritage as the fact that the dam construction would destroy sacred sites and ritual grounds had not been adequately considered in the forced taking of their lands.
In a landmark decision by the Sapporo District Court, Chief Judge Kazuo Ichimiya stated that the Ainu people had established a unique culture in Hokkaido before the arrival of the Japanese and therefore had rights that should have given consideration under Article 13 of Japan's Constitution, which protects the rights of the individual, and in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Japanese government until this point had refused to acknowledge the Ainu as indigenous people. Since the dam was already complete, the 3-judge panel did not nullify the land seizure. However, the decision included extensive fact-finding that underscored the long history of the oppression of the Ainu people by Japan's ethnic majority, referred to as "Wajin" in the case and discussions about the case.