'Comfort woman' statue pulled from Aichi exhibit after threats

It reminds one of how a historically accurate exhibition of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings was cancelled due to pressure from veterans and politicians. Powerful politicians seem to agree that when the truth is not convenient, it is easiest to suppress. See also China's treatment of the Tiananmen massacre, etc.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1995-01-31-9501310181-story.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/28/us/exhibit-plans-on-hiroshima-stir-a-debate.html

Japan's chief cabinet office secretary threatened to stop subsidy to eliminate inconvenient expression.

The New York times wrote a nice article about the view of the current ultra right wing government on the issue

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/opinion/comfort-women-japan-south-korea.html

Some reading for those who still doubt that Abe san redrow his apology

good this is too far gone for being "freedom of expression"

That is decidedly not how free expression works.

I guess at least six people don't like that the US gave Japan democracy and free speech. Look, Japan was clearly not going to give itself these things.

good this is too far gone for being "freedom of expression" you dont' see anyone out there putting up monuments remembering Hitler. This form of expression is targeted at one country therefore dangerously close to a hate crime. Glad they took it down, it has no place in art. This is what happens in war and has been since fighting began hence the term to the winner the spoils of war.. Unfortunate but true. Perhaps JT reporters could do a short piece to its readers on this topic of spoils of war over the various conquests that goes back decades....

BrusselAug. 4  04:07 pm JST

Already the title here is wrong

All across the world it is called a statue of sex slave labour. Only in Japan it is called conveniently 'comfort' woman.

Wrong. SK has been also calling these women comfort women which is English translation for

Ianfu=慰安婦＝위안부. They called sex slave laborers through Korean/Vietnam Wars up to mid 90's

"Ianfu".

Wasn't it nice of the US to bestow feeedom of expression upon Japanese people after Japan started a war with the US that Japan completely and utterly lost?

It's amazing that Japan can still get away with playing the victim card from a war it started.

Repugnant. Some people prefer to embrace the LDP's whitewashing of history and continue to push their heads farther down into the sand.

Samit Basu

Today  08:15 am JST

Japan has no freedom of expression

Actually... they have too much of it.

Example: Comiket in Tokyo Big Sight every summer and winter.

Already the title here is wrong

All across the world it is called a statue of sex slave labour. Only in Japan it is called conveniently 'comfort' woman.

Removing the statue = giving in to these extreme right wing idiots.

The better way would be to protect it.

Just imagine someones try to hold exhibit with lots of parody on Korean history, or humiliating the girl's statue at a public museum in Seoul, which is run by Korean tax payers' money. I bet it wouldn't last 3 days as it did

this time in Aichi. Someone in the planning might get fatal damage.

See the diff about freedom of expression between Japan and Korea?

Not just controversial statue but also burning photo of Show Emperor.

The planner Daisuke Tsuda himself says he wanted to have a scandal aroused by the controversial exhibit, in particular, emphasizing meaning in being held at public museum supported by Tax-Payer's money.

Personally I do not like those statues, but being forced to pull out them is unimaginable in modern democratic countries, indicating that Japan is now de facto a fascistic country controlled by the ultra-right wing group.

@SJ - Truth bomb dropped, where it is unwelcome.

"South Korean professor fined for book about ‘comfort women’, proving the truth is still dangerous"

@OssanJapan - Interesting you conveniently forget to mention the NHK censorship when it comes to Japan's recent past, and their inability to be an independent journalistic body since the start of Abe's neo-Fascist rule.

It is not a matter of freedom of expression. It is lack of common sense to display the statue.

What kind of logic is that? You are saying it is ok to making real life threats and spamming complaints because displaying a certain statue is lacking common sense to you lot? I think logic is what you are lacking.

Fascism is alive and well in good ol' nippon. But some will clamour on about nippon being a bastion of free speech. Living in absolute denial.

Anyone who has lived in Japan long enough has seen this happen ALL THE TIME!!

How many times has something about Nanking been cancelled because of threats of the infamous "CONFUSION"

Japan for the most part just simply CANNOT accept or deal with anything in its past that was nasty simple as that.

We would have the SAME result in Aichi today even in Japan & S.Korea were having fantastic relations, we would have still had rightwing nut jobs get things cancelled

Oh & I will be surprised if we hear about any of these nut jobs being caught making threats unless they make a spectacle in public!

It is not a matter of freedom of expression. It is lack of common sense to display the statue.

Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura indicated receiving "terror threats" by telephone and email, remarkable from a exhibit purporting to represent a Statue of a Girl Of Peace.

SJ Today 08:03 am JST

Personally I do not like those statues, but being forced to pull out them is unimaginable in modern democratic countries, indicating that Japan is now de facto a fascistic country controlled by the ultra-right wing group.

To be fair, those statues are not harmless expressions. They are basically extortion tools deployed by South Koreans anywhere they can get permission to put them. Their ultimate goal is to inflict harm in two protected legal interests: Money/Economic and Freedom, against people they themselves admit are not guilty.

That someone did not like them is inevitable.

AlexBecuToday 09:21 am JST

Japanese children have been bullied and attacked by Korean children after seeing this statues.

Hadn't heard of this. Won't be surprised if this is true. The history they've been taught encourages extremism against Japanese. Just look at, heck, even their courts. Look at their military. The damage is deep.

itsonlyrocknrollToday 09:22 am JST

Whatever the political motivations of sighting/exhibiting a "Comfort woman statue" at international art exhibition. threats of acts of terror, arson are totally unacceptable.

Terror? Nah. Arson? Yes.

Lets be frank the statue was exhibited to politicly provoke and antagonise. A deliberate methodology to fan the flames of acrimony, cause belligerent discontent, bitter retribution.

The aesthetic value as a exhibit is lost in the uncompromisingly forthright need to humiliate and punish without redemption. Calculated and malicious

correct me if I’m wrong, but the original “art” statue is still sitting in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. Did they make a mold and start copying this statue to be sent to all corners of the Earth?

SK has ripped a page out of Israel’s “How to be a Perpetual Victim” book.

Two contrasting styles of protests that characterizes its people and government.

Veiled individual terror threats - individualistic, passive, aggressive, gunshot approach.

Vocal, peaceful public rally - collective, non violent, emotional, prolonged.

Even the arts communities express intolerance. Interesting.

"Statue of a Girl Of Peace" attracted a flood of complaints since Aichi Triennale, an international art exhibition being held in Nagoya, opened just three days ago, organizers said.

Since when this " Statute of a symbol of conflict" has been art? It is being mass-produced on demand for the cost of $30k/one girl

Aichi Governer is being a little bit adult on this while Nagoya mayor is acting like a kid with tantrum, who were offended by the contents of this exhibition, and does not understand he as the head of the city should protect freedom of expression no matter what the content. He is demanding an apology now for their exhibition hurting his feelings. Just because he was offended by the contents, does not mean he is automatically entitled to an apology. Freedom of expression is protected by the Japanese constitution and it is more important than his feelings.

Probably just on if those middle aged right wing nut jobs , impotent threats again. Little dogs have more bark than bite it seems. Leave the damn statue where it is

Whatever the political motivations of sighting/exhibiting a "Comfort woman statue" at international art exhibition. threats of acts of terror, arson are totally unacceptable.

'Get rid of it fast or else I'm going to bring a can of gasoline and cause some trouble,'" …..The police have a duty to apprehend and lock up this deranged lunatic.

Koreans are going back on the 2015 comfort women deal.

They are building this statues not just in Korea itself, but outside and in U.S. as well.

Japanese children have been bullied and attacked by Korean children after seeing this statues. It promotes hate against Japan. Koreans have made it into an international anti-Japan symbol. Remove that propaganda garbage. We see plenty of pictures from Koreans protesting next to them several times a year!

The organizers of the Aichi exhibition decided to pull the statue out not because of the threatening fax but because Japanese taxpayers did not like the fact that Insulting statue was displayed at the exhibition financed by their tax money.

Samit BasuToday  08:15 am JST

Japan has no freedom of expression.

A hell of a lot more than South Korea:

"South Korean professor fined for book about ‘comfort women’, proving the truth is still dangerous"

"stating harmful facts, especially when those facts contravene narratives relevant to North Korea or Japan’s wartime aggressions, is punishable with up to three years in prison or a fine up to US$17,849. Stating harmful falsehoods is punishable with up to seven years in prison or fines up to US$44,624."

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2118358/south-korean-professor-fined-book-about-comfort-women-proving

Welcome to Japan's generational domestic right-wing terrorist culture. Still thriving. All you need is a threat and the Japanese buckle.

The goal of " Unfreedom of Expression Exhibit" was for creating the fuss again about comfort women issues

inside Japan.

The festival decided to remove the statue after it received"terror threats" by telephone and email, Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura told a news conference on Saturday.

"Yesterday we also received a fax saying, 'Get rid of it fast or else I'm going to bring a can of gasoline and cause some trouble,'" Omura said.

No mention here in this article, the clear topic of the item.. traceable threats.. the "Elephant in the Room" is, what action are the police taking? not taking?

Funny how some on this board conflate terroristic threats and government fascism. It's like we lost a dictionary at some point... With K-pop and streetwear being celebrated by the young people and more city municipalities recognizing more marriages, where is the argument for a lack of freedom of expression? With the continued backlash the average person expresses when they hear about article 9 changes, where is the argument for an ultra right wing mentality? Japanese prefer authority driven societies so that the positives and negatives are subjective at best.

Personally I do not like those statues, but being forced to pull out them is unimaginable in modern democratic countries, indicating that Japan is now de facto a fascistic country controlled by the ultra-right wing group.

More than that it indicates the hate coming from Korea right now has started to generate some blowback.

Intimidation seems to work in Japan.

@Cricket

Japan has no freedom of expression.

Personally I do not like those statues, but being forced to pull out them is unimaginable in modern democratic countries, indicating that Japan is now de facto a fascistic country controlled by the ultra-right wing group.

The statue had been part of an exhibit aimed at promoting freedom of expression.

So much for freedom of expression

I am sure the police are looking into who sent that fax. If it's from a convenience store or similar, there are security cameras they can check. Threatening violence - surely they won't let that slide?

Yesterday we also received a fax saying, 'Get rid of it fast or else I'm going to bring a can of gasoline and cause some trouble,'" Omura said.

Proof that everyone, even terrorists, in Japan still uses fax machines.