When the Forest and Lake Give Back Their Voices: The Akan Eco-museum Weaves a Story of Nature and Ainu Culture Revival (1980s-2000s)

When the Forest and Lake Give Back Their Voices: The Akan Eco-museum Weaves a Story of Nature and Ainu Culture Revival (1980s-2000s)
In the 1990s, Lake Akan Onsen was a place where both the protection of nature and the preservation of Ainu culture were being questioned as Japan's tourism industry reached a major turning point. After World War II, Lake Akan developed into a major tourist destination with a hot spring resort and tourist facilities, but environmental problems such as overfishing of marimo, overloading of the lake, and loss of virgin forests were piling up behind the development of the area. In addition, Ainu dances and folk arts, which had been prepared for tourism, were criticized for being showcased, and a sense of crisis was spreading in the region that the essence of the culture was being lost. It was during this period that there was a growing awareness of the need to shift from mass tourism to sustainable tourism.
It was against this backdrop that the Lake Akan Eco-Museum Center was established. The existing visitor center was renovated and the concept of Lake Akan and the surrounding virgin forest as a living museum took shape in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The museum's models and videos show the origins of the volcanic lake, its ecosystem, and the activities of the Marimo, a special natural treasure, providing an entry point for visitors to not only see the scenery, but also to understand the time of the land. Nature observation tours and winter snowshoe tours have created a new style of treating Akan nature as an object of dialogue rather than appreciation.
Another axis is the revitalization of Ainu culture. Lake Akan Ainu Kotan has long been a tourist destination, but since the 1990s, there has been a reevaluation of the Ainu worldview and oral literature that coexists with nature, and an increased emphasis on conveying culture as a local idea rather than a tourist product. Eco-museum centers have played a role in overlaying this culture with nature, and Ainu narratives about the forests and lakes have been used in exhibits and guides.
The Akan Eco-museum concept was a pioneering experiment in Japan in that it combined the science of preserving nature and the spirit of cultural heritage in the same vessel. This effort to restore the original voice of Akan, which had been polished as a tourist destination, is also a story about redrawing the future of the region.