Goro Bete

Goro Pete was born in Kushiro, Hokkaido, near Lake Harutoriko. His childhood witnessed the suffering of the Ainu people under economic and social discrimination. His village was forced to relocate when he was five, and the modern laws deprived the community of its traditional livelihoods. Influenced by the English Anglican missionary John Batchelor, who had lived among the Ainu in Hokkaido for 20 years, Pete was baptized in 1897 and continued studying under Batchelor.

In 1904, American anthropologist Frederick Starr went to Japan to recruit Ainu people and bring them to the United States for the Ethnological Exhibit at the St. Louis Exposition. Most Ainu people believed the journey would lead to their deaths, far from their home. Pete, however, was described as “lively and happy and anxious to go.” Starr considered Pete too Europeanized or Japanized to qualify for “figuring in an Ainu group at the Exposition,” but thought he could help cheer up the other members of the group. Pete thus became the last person to join the group. His wife, the daughter of the grand chief Penriuk Hiramura, remained behind in Hokkaido. In St. Louis, Pete and three other Ainu men took part in the “Anthropology Days,” competing in five events.

After the 1904 Exposition and Olympics, the Ainu group returned to Japan safely. Pete studied at a seminary in Hakodate and became an evangelist. He also actively participated in activities supporting the Ainu community. Starr went to Japan again in 1909 and met seven of the nine members of the group, including Pete.