From Japan Today, 6/29/12:
A South Korean photographer whose Tokyo exhibition on Japanese
wartime sex slaves only went ahead after a court injunction said
Thursday it was important to display the work to inform the public.
Japan-based Ahn Sehong said he had been disappointed when camera
maker Nikon abruptly cancelled his exhibition, which features 37
pictures of some of the now-elderly Korean women forced into sex slavery
during World War II.
In January a company selection committee had approved Ahn’s proposal
for the show at Nikon Salon in the Shinjuku business district of Tokyo,
to be held from June 26-July 9, he told reporters.
But on May 22 the company unexpectedly told him it was shelving the
show, three days after a newspaper article about it appeared.
It was only the intervention last week of Tokyo District Court, which
ordered Nikon to provide a display space, that ensured the show would
go ahead.
“I felt I needed to inform (the public) about these elderly women, former comfort women,” he told a press conference.
Ahn said he believed nationalists had pressured Nikon after the
article appeared, making the company reluctant to be associated with the
exhibition.
Personal threats from rightwingers increased when the show started
Wednesday, said Ahn, who moved his family outside the central city of
Nagoya after receiving a number of abusive emails and phone calls.
The issue is a sensitive and divisive one in Japan, whose military
exercised a brutal rule over Korea, parts of China and other areas of
Asia during World War II.
Many Japanese agree that young Asian women were forced into sex slavery for Japanese soldiers during the war.
But some argue that local pimps and businesses tricked the women into
prostitution rings, with Japanese soldiers buying their services as
customers and having no direct role in the running of brothels.
The issue continues to cause friction between Seoul and Tokyo, with
South Korea repeatedly asking for talks on compensation, overtures Japan
has turned down, citing the 1965 compensation deal that led to the
normalisation of relations.
Nikon has been tight-lipped about the on-off-on show.
“We told Mr. Ahn that we would like to cancel the show after
comprehensively reviewing various factors,” a Nikon spokesman said
Thursday, refusing to elaborate.
The company has objected to the court injunction, he added.
Link: http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/comfort-women-photographer-pleased-by-japan-court
UPDATE!
Makiko Segawa provides more details in her Japan Focus article:
Nikon, Neo-Nationalists and a Censored Comfort Women Photo Exhibition
Link: http://japanfocus.org/-Makiko-Segawa/3783
Showing posts with label Korea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Korea. Show all posts
Friday, June 29, 2012
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Historical Photos of China and Korea
From 2 recent H-ASIA announcements...
1. Historical Photographs of China
About the project (Project's self description)
A collaboration between scholars at the University of Bristol, University of Lincoln, and the Institut d'Asie Orientale, this project aims to locate, archive, and disseminate photographs from the substantial holdings of images of modern China held mostly in private hands overseas. These are often of even greater historic interest than might ordinarily be the case, as the destruction of materials inside China in war and revolution in the twentieth century, and especially during the 1966-69 Cultural Revolutiohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifn, means that there is a relative dearth today of accessible photographic records in China itself...
The photographs archived here come from the collections of a Chinese diplomat, foreign businessmen, staff of the administrations in the Chinese treaty ports, missionaries, and officials of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service. They shed light on political events such as the 1925 May Thirtieth incident, on working and social life, on treaty port architecture, commercial history, the history of dress and fashion, and of course the history of photography in China. They were taken by talented amateur photographers, by foreign snap-shotters, professional studio photographers, and others. These images were taken, acquired or bought by those living or visiting China.
Link to Historical Photographs of China:
http://chp.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/index.php
2. Korean War Historical Images (Not much of a description is offered; thumbnails are set up on a Flickr page - photos have short captions.)
IMCOM-Korea Photo Collections, The Installation Management Command-Korea Region (IMCOM), US Army Korea... Cleared for public release. This image is generally considered in the public domain - Not for commercial use. U.S. Army Korea - Installation Management Command.
Link to Korean War Historical Images:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/imcomkorea/sets/72157607808414225/
1. Historical Photographs of China
About the project (Project's self description)
A collaboration between scholars at the University of Bristol, University of Lincoln, and the Institut d'Asie Orientale, this project aims to locate, archive, and disseminate photographs from the substantial holdings of images of modern China held mostly in private hands overseas. These are often of even greater historic interest than might ordinarily be the case, as the destruction of materials inside China in war and revolution in the twentieth century, and especially during the 1966-69 Cultural Revolutiohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifn, means that there is a relative dearth today of accessible photographic records in China itself...
The photographs archived here come from the collections of a Chinese diplomat, foreign businessmen, staff of the administrations in the Chinese treaty ports, missionaries, and officials of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service. They shed light on political events such as the 1925 May Thirtieth incident, on working and social life, on treaty port architecture, commercial history, the history of dress and fashion, and of course the history of photography in China. They were taken by talented amateur photographers, by foreign snap-shotters, professional studio photographers, and others. These images were taken, acquired or bought by those living or visiting China.
Link to Historical Photographs of China:
http://chp.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/index.php
2. Korean War Historical Images (Not much of a description is offered; thumbnails are set up on a Flickr page - photos have short captions.)
IMCOM-Korea Photo Collections, The Installation Management Command-Korea Region (IMCOM), US Army Korea... Cleared for public release. This image is generally considered in the public domain - Not for commercial use. U.S. Army Korea - Installation Management Command.
Link to Korean War Historical Images:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/imcomkorea/sets/72157607808414225/
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