A police car in Japan. (Mainichi)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A 47-year-old man was arrested Sunday for allegedly threatening an organizer of a Tokyo art exhibition that was to feature a statue symbolizing "comfort women," who worked in Japan's wartime military brothels, but was canceled due to protests, police said.

       Takahiro Unemoto, a resident of Amagasaki in Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, is suspected of sending a threatening email five times from his mobile phone between June 19 and July 14 to one of the organizers of the "Non-Freedom of Expression Exhibition," according to the police.

       The event, which was scheduled to run from late June to early July in the capital, was canceled at the last minute due to protestors who denounced it as "anti-Japan" and used loudspeakers to create disruption.

       Unemoto has admitted to sending a threatening email that included statements such as "It wouldn't be strange even if someone among you would die," according to the Tokyo police.

       In July, an envelope containing firecrackers and addressed to the venue of an art exhibition in Osaka, featuring the same statue of a girl symbolizing Korean comfort women and other controversial works, was delivered to a post office.

       Shortly before the Osaka exhibition, a suspicious package exploded at the venue of another controversial art event in Nagoya, central Japan, leading the exhibit to be canceled two days after its opening.

       Police have been looking into the two cases, with both envelopes having been sent from Hyogo Prefecture.

       A similar event staged using taxpayers' money sparked controversy in Nagoya in 2019 and was closed three days after opening in August that year over security concerns amid a flood of threats and complaints to the exhibition.

       Following its initial closure, the exhibition reopened for seven days in October 2019 and showcased the statue symbolizing comfort women as well as a film featuring a scene where an image of Emperor Hirohito, the grandfather of the current emperor, is set alight.

       The exhibition drew public attention as it cast light on Japan's historical issues with its neighbors as well as the right to freedom of expression.

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