hankyoreh

Organizers behind the “Non-Freedom of Expression Exhibition” hold a press conference at the Japanese House of Representatives building in Tokyo on March 25 where they announce that the exhibition will be held April 2 through April 5. (Kim So-youn/The Hankyoreh)

A statue symbolizing victims of the Japanese military’s system of sexual slavery that has come under attack from right-wingers every time it has been exhibited is once again going on display in Tokyo.

The Tokyo organizing committee for the “Non-Freedom of Expression Exhibition,” with members including representatives of Japanese civic groups, held a press conference Saturday at the Japanese House of Representatives to announce their plans to hold the exhibition. The four-day event in Tokyo from April 2 to April 5 is to include the Statue of Peace memorializing victims of the “comfort women” system of sexual slavery.

The announcement means that the exhibition is to be restaged 10 months after it was canceled in June 2021 due to right-wing obstruction tactics. It is to take place at a public gallery in Kunitachi in Tokyo Prefecture.

Sadaaki Iwasaki, co-representative of the organizing committee, said during the press conference that the exhibition was being organized to “provide an opportunity to think freely about topics such as the imperial system, colonial rule, the Japanese military’s ‘comfort women,’ and nuclear power issues at a time when people are forced into silence in various forms of expression.”

"Following the invasion of Ukraine, media in Russia that oppose the war are being subjected to controls,” he noted. “We need to once again consider the importance of freedom of expression.”

The exhibition is to feature work by 16 artists and artist groups. In addition to the Statue of Peace, it will also include photographs of military sexual slavery victims and artwork related to the Japanese emperor, which is considered taboo in Japan.

In a possible reflection of the soured relationship between South Korea and Japan, exhibitions that have to do with victims of Japanese military sexual slavery have been repeatedly targeted by right-wingers.

The “Non-Freedom of Expression Exhibition” was originally planned to take place at a private exhibition facility in Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighborhood in June 2021. But it was canceled when right-wingers waged a campaign of sabotage and intimidation using vehicles and loudspeakers, leading the gallery to notify the organizers that it would be unable to provide the space.

Organizing committee co-representative Yuka Okamoto said, “I’m confident we can keep the exhibition space secure through the power of artists and the public.”

“We are doing everything we can to hold the exhibition safely,” she added.

To prepare for the possibility of right-wing intimidation tactics, some 240 volunteers are to provide support, along with around 60 attorneys. The cooperation of the police has also been requested.

By Kim So-youn, Tokyo correspondent

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