Tibet Supporters Visit Japan’s Ministry of Culture Affairs on China’s Tibet Exhibition[Friday, 22 January 2010, 11:34 a.m.]

Mrs. Tatsumura Yukari of Tibet Support Group Representative presenting a copy of the petition to Mr. Takahira Kozo, Superintendent of Ministry of Culture Affairs. Mr. Makino Seishu, MP and Chairman of Japanese Parliamentarians for Tibet looks on.

Tokyo: The
members for Tibet Support Group in Japan on Thursday visited the office
of Mr. Takahira Kozo, Superintendent of History and Museum section of
Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan. Mr. Makino Sheishu,
Member of Parliament and chairman of Japanese Parliamentary Groups for
Tibet, headed the delegation to express the public’s dissatisfaction
over the recently concluded Tibet exhibition at Tokyo, and to deliver
six hundred signed petitions against the exhibition.Japanese
support groups had staged a series of protests against the Tibet
Exhibition recently. Chinese government in collaboration with Japanese
business establishments and Ministry of Cultural Affairs organised the
exhibition. Many maintain that the exhibition depicts the Chinese side
of the story only, and it serves as a platform for Chinese propaganda
only.The support group has collected some six hundred signed
petitions from the public to protest against the exhibition. The
petitions were presented to the office of Ueno Mori Museum, where the
exhibition was held. The petitions were also presented to Daiko, an
advertising company sponsoring the exhibition.Mr. Makino along
with representatives of the support groups, Mrs. Tatsumura, Mr. Kubo
and Mr. Osada, met the superintendent Takahira and his three aides at
his office at Toranomon. They presented the copies of the petitions and
asked how Cultural Affairs Ministry could possibly support the
exhibition, which does not represent the true picture of Tibet. Mr.
Takahira said that they followed the established norms of the ministry
and thought that the exhibition will do well to introduce Tibet.Mr.
Takahira, however, said that his ministry was not aware of the details
of the exhibits, and that they will convey the message of the
protest-visit to the organisers’ of Osaka and Sendai, the two cities
where the exhibitions will be held again.It was learnt that
Tibet supporters in Kansai area are planning to stage a demonstration
against the exhibition on 23 January, the day when the exhibition will
open at Osaka National Museum.–Report filed by Tsewang Gyalpo, Office of Tibet, Tokyo