Japan's Aichi Triennale art festival reopens 'comfort women' exhibition

Back in August, the Japanese government helped pressure the country's biggest international art festival into removing a statue representing the victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery.But from today, the statue is back and will stay there until the festival ends next Monday.Eum Ji-young reports.Following threats from ultra-right Japanese protesters and pressure from the Japanese government,… the statue representing the so-called "comfort women" was abruptly removed from the Aichi Triennale just three days after the festival's opening two months ago.But the exhibition featuring the statue reopened Tuesday afternoon and will stay open until the end of the festival on October 14th.Still, there are strict limitations on viewing, which have been widely denounced.Only 30 people are allowed at a time and they have to reserve a spot ahead of time.They also have to go through a bag inspection and a metal detector.They're accompanied by a guide and are not allowed to take pictures or post them online.More than 700 people have applied for a spot to see the comfort women statue, but the Japanese government is still strongly opposed to it being on display.According to Kyodo News, the mayor of Nagoya, the city hosting the festival, said Tuesday morning after visiting that its display is "violence to hijack public opinion in the name of freedom of expression."In the afternoon, he began a sit-in protest against it.He also said Aichi Prefecture will not give the event the subsididy it had pledged worth some 315 thousand dollars.The mayor had previously sparked outrage when he demanded the exhibition be shut down, arguing the statue could give the impression that Japan accepted the well-documented fact that the women were forcibly taken by the Japanese military during the war.Eum Ji-young Arirang News.