The Sapporo District Court ruled Thursday that a regional government had acted illegally by expropriating land to build a dam without considering its cultural significance to the Ainu people.
42.
He devoted his life to improving the standing of the Ainu people, expressing his ideas as tanka in newspapers and magazines and influencing the Ainu youth of the time.
43.
And the decision on whether to start using the dam should be based on discussions toward creating a new law in a forum that includes representatives of the Ainu people.
44.
Nomura spoke of the Japanese government's attitude towards the Ainu people : " In the eyes of the government, we are a people whose existence must not be admitted ."
45.
"For the first time, the Ainu people are recognized as our country's indigenous race under Japan's legal system, " said Gov . Tatsuya Hori of Japan's northern main island of Hokkaido.
46.
The decision included broad fact-finding that underscored the long history of the oppression of the Ainu people by Japan's majority, referred to as Wajin in the case and discussions about the case.
47.
An independent advisory panel to the chief Cabinet secretary, made up of intellectuals and formed to discuss problems that concern the aboriginal Ainu people, has issued a report on its year-long study.
48.
The final decision denied the relief sought by the plaintiffs for pragmatic reasons the dam was already standing but the decision was nonetheless heralded as a landmark victory for the Ainu people.
49.
The Nibutani Dam was constructed in Nibutani ( �N��7?) district on the Saru River, though there was a strong objection due to a sacred meaning of the place for indigenous Ainu people.
50.
While the Ainu Culture Law has been widely criticized for its shortcomings, the shift that it represents in Japan's view of the Ainu people is a testament to the importance of the Nibutani decision.
