Navigating Representation and Access: a case study of the digital National Ainu Museum in Japan

Abstract (English)

This paper critically examines the digital museum initiative at the National Ainu Museum in Japan as a state-driven project at the intersection of Indigenous representation, digital curation, and national cultural policy. Drawing on my curatorial and research involvement, I explore how government-led frameworks for Indigenous visibility have shaped both the existence and the boundaries of digital museology in this context.
Established as part of a national strategy to promote multicultural coexistence, the National Ainu Museum was born from a powerful narrative of inclusion. Yet, its implementation reveals underlying tensions between the aspirations of representation and the constraints imposed by political sensitivities and centralized control. While digital media offers significant potential for increasing access to collections and building public narratives, the infrastructure in place—particularly the disabling of public comment features on digital platforms—reflects deep institutional anxieties about controversy, misinterpretation, and loss of curatorial control.
This presentation interrogates how digital tools, while designed to amplify cultural presence, may simultaneously dilute the publicity, interactivity, and local ownership of Indigenous heritage. I argue that the digital museum exemplifies a broader challenge: how to balance visibility with vulnerability, and openness with preservation, in the digital sphere. Rather than celebrating digital technologies uncritically, this analysis highlights the fragile politics of representation embedded in the infrastructures of digital museums, where Indigenous identity is curated within and constrained by national frameworks.
In reflecting on the limits and potentials of digital repatriation and online access, this case contributes to wider discussions on collaboration, refusal, and cultural mediation in digitization projects.