Nagoya voters back Kawamura for fifth term as mayor japantimes.co.jp - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from japantimes.co.jp Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Mar 6, 2021
The Aichi Triennale 2019 arts festival appears to live on in infamy. When it opened in Nagoya, it was immediately blasted for a section entitled “After ‘Freedom of Expression?,’” which duplicated a 2015 Tokyo art exhibit featuring works that were previously removed from public display after being castigated by right-wing elements, mainly for their depictions of historical matters. The section was eventually shut down over security concerns, an act that resonated for months in the national and international press, which questioned Japan’s approach to freedom of expression.
The controversy re-entered the news cycle last year when a petition was launched to recall Aichi Gov. Hideaki Omura, head of the triennale committee, for allowing the exhibit, which the petition authors claimed hurt the feelings of his constituents. The campaign ended abruptly in November, well short of its goal, when rumors circulated that many of the names collected so far had been
Controversy still lingers over 2019 Aichi art show japantimes.co.jp - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from japantimes.co.jp Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A copy of a signature list for the campaign to recall the Aichi governor (Masaki Yamamoto)
A 26-year-old resident of Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, was stunned and dismayed when he found his name on a recall petition against Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura.
“What in the world is this?” the man exclaimed.
He said, at first, it seemed “so far-fetched.”
The man made an information disclosure request to the city’s election administration commission regarding the recall campaign, and obtained a copy of the petition in December 2020.
Each sheet of the petition had room for 10 signatures. The man’s name was clearly handwritten eighth from the top on one of them, along with his address and date of birth. All the information was accurate, and it included a fingerprint.
Cosmetic surgeon Katsuya Takasu, left, and Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura answer reporters questions in Nagoya on Nov. 4 after submitting signatures for a petition drive to recall Aichi s governor. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The Aichi prefectural election administration commission filed a criminal complaint with police on Feb. 15 over scores of dubious signatures found on a petition to recall Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura.
At an emergency meeting that day, the commission concluded that it should act against the suspected forgery of massive numbers of signatures, saying the fraud violated the local autonomy law.
Prefectural police accepted the complaint and will launch an investigation into the matter.