Photo/Illutration Anti-war photos put on display at Tokyo Metro Co.’s Omotesando Station in the capital’s Minato Ward on April 7 (Hiroaki Takeda)

Tokyo Metro Co. refused to allow a photographer to use its subway station ad space to exhibit anti-war photos mentioning Russian President Vladimir Putin by name because they were too “political” in nature.

Naotaka Miyamoto, a photographer who lives in Tokyo, is behind the campaign designed to raise awareness of the plight of war-torn Ukraine.

The photos eventually did go on display at Tokyo Metro’s Omotesando Station in the capital’s Minato Ward, but only after Miyamoto dropped the word “Putin” from the slogan “stop Putin, stop war.” They will remain on display until April 10.

Miyamoto, 61, had reached out to Ukrainian residents in Japan through social media and took photos of them for the campaign.

He photographed 23 men and women holding placards with anti-war messages in late March and applied for permission to display them in ad space in Omotesando Station.

But Tokyo Metro refused to allow him to exhibit seven of the 23 photos that mentioned Putin by name out of concern they could be seen as “political expression.”

Miyamoto said the subway operator also expressed concerns that designs representing bloody handprints in the works could arouse fears or make viewers feel uncomfortable.

“It is not a photo exhibition but a public service advertisement seen by many passengers,” a Tokyo Metro official said. “We concluded that some of his works were not in line with Tokyo Metro group guidelines.”

Miyamoto almost gave up on exhibiting the photos because he thought those expressions were necessary to clearly convey his message.

But he eventually decided to delete Putin’s name and make other revisions so that all 23 of the photos could go on display.

“I wanted many people to see the photos to help them think about Ukraine,” said Miyamoto.

Related News