E/CN.4/2006/16/Add.2 page 5 Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur, in pursuance of his mandate, visited Japan from 3 to 11 July 2005. He travelled to Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo, Hokkaido and the Aichi prefecture in Chubu region. He met with all stakeholders in order to hear their views on the existence of racial discrimination and xenophobia in Japan and on the measures taken to fight against it. In this context, he met with the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, representatives of various ministries, judges, as well as representatives of the local governments of the Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo and Sapporo. 2. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur visited a number of communities: in particular, the Buraku community in Nishinari in Osaka, a Korean school in Kyoto, the Utoro Korean community in Uji City in Kyoto, the headquarters of the Buraku Liberation League in Tokyo, the Ainu Association of Hokkaido and the Ainu community of Niburani in Hokkaido. The Special Rapporteur also met with representatives of several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. 3. The Special Rapporteur carried out his visit in excellent conditions, thanks to the full cooperation of the Japanese authorities. He regrets however that he could not meet with a number of high-level authorities, in particular the Governor of Tokyo. The Special Rapporteur also thanks the United Nations Information Centre in Tokyo, the NGOs and the communities he met for their excellent support. I. GENERAL BACKGROUND A. Ethnic and demographic situation 4. Japan has a population of 127.7 million, out of which 98.45 per cent are Japanese nationals. The Japanese population includes one indigenous population, the Ainu, estimated at between 30,000 and 50,000 people: they live predominantly in the island of Hokkaido. Amongst the foreigners, who do not represent more than 1.55 per cent of the population, Koreans are the largest foreign community (607,419 in 2004), followed by the Chinese, Brazilians and Filipinos. B. Historical and social context The Ainu 5. In the fifteenth century, the Japanese started to move into the island of Hokkaido, ancestral land of the Ainu people, and imposed on the Ainu strict rules impeding them from carrying out their main activities like hunting and fishing, and practising their traditional rituals. After 1867, the Meiji Restoration, the modern Japanese nation State started to exploit Hokkaido. It adopted an official policy of assimilation of the Ainu and expropriated their land, so that Ainu society and culture was fatally damaged. It was only in the 1990s that the Government of Japan put into question the notion of Japan as a “mono-ethnic nation” and adopted a law that recognizes the specificity of the Ainu culture and the need to preserve it.