A film festival in suburban Tokyo will now screen a documentary on the highly controversial issue of Japan's wartime military brothels after organisers originally opted to drop the movie.
The film's screening was cancelled last week amid concerns over the safety of volunteers and objections from local officials.
But the decision was reversed after "lots of voices offering cooperation to address our safety concerns," a member of the organising committee told AFP, who said the festival would increase the number of volunteers to boost security.
The controversy over the film comes after an exhibit in central Japan was shut down for two months earlier this year after it received threats for displaying a statue of a wartime sex slave, and with relations between Japan and South Korea badly frayed over wartime issues.
The statue of a girl who is symbolic of 'comfort women' is seen in front of the Japanese consulate-general in Busan, South Korea. Source: Getty Images AsiaPac
Mainstream historians say up to 200,000 women - mostly from Korea, but also other parts of Asia including China - were forced to work in brothels.
But some nationalists insist the women were prostitutes, claiming there is no documented evidence that the Japanese military was ordered to recruit women against their will.
Some of the people interviewed in the film, by Japanese-American director Miki Dezaki, have filed suit against him, claiming they were not aware the interviews would be used in a movie for public release.
Kawasaki City on Tokyo's outskirts, which provided nearly half of the festival's budget, reportedly expressed concerns about the lawsuit in its conversations with organisers.
Local officials, however, denied pressuring organisers to drop the film, with one telling AFP they merely questioned "whether showing such a film is appropriate."
