Visitors at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo on July 28 watch a video by Aida Makoto in which the artist pretends to be prime minister of Japan. Photo: CFP

Although he may not be as famous internationally as other contemporary Japanese artists such as Nara Yoshitomo and Yayoi Kusama, Aida Makoto continues to wow audiences each time he introduces new works. In fact, responses to his latest exhibition in late July, which focused on Japan's internal and foreign policies concerning history, were so strong that his work even caught the attention of foreign media. 

One of the artist's video works features Aida as a Japanese prime minister who bears a striking resemblance to incumbent Abe Shinzo. In the video, Aida's character apologizes to Asian countries for Japan's behavior during WWII. The video proved so controversial that a discussion broke out over whether the video was appropriate for a public museum.

"At the beginning, one of the museum's heads was reluctant [about showing the work] and suggested I modify the work. But in the end, the removal of the work was not enforced," Aida told the Global Times in an e-mail interview.

Social concerns

Preferring to see the video as humorous instead of critical of Japan's current administration, Aida believes the museum was being too sensitive about political art and the disapproval that it brought.

This is not the first time Aida has engaged in political art. Describing him as an "odd" member of Japan's contemporary art scene, Aida creates most of his works based on his concerns about Japanese society. War, violence, lolies and katanas are common symbols seen in his works, earning him a reputation as a pioneering artist on par with famed Japanese artists such as Murakami Takashi and Yayoi Kusama.

However, while these latter two later ascended into the international art arena via their focus on combining Japanese pop culture with Western contemporary art, Aida maintained his focus on his social and historical concerns.

"Artists who work with social issues are in the minority [in Japan]. Mr. Murakami Takashi always keeps his eyes on contemporary Japanese society and I think we have a certain level of commonality in that regard," Aida wrote.

A sensitive topic

Governed by different historical perspectives, people in Japanese society can easily make a great fuss over art that features political elements. In July of 2013, when venerable Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki released his newest animated film The Wind Rises in Japan, the film pushed the Oscar-winning director into the epicenter of a storm of controversy.

Basing his film on Jiro Horikoshi - the designer of the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, the fighter plane pervasively used during Japan's invasion of China and the Korean peninsula during WWII - the director aimed to unfold a picture of a man's struggle to achieve their dreams during a time of war accompanied by natural disasters and an economic depression.

However, since the film's subject matter was so closely linked to period in history that Japan and other Asian countries still wrestle with, The Wind Rises soon sparked criticism from both sides of the political divide. Later, when Miyazaki stated to media that Japan should apologize for what it did during the war and the government shouldn't try to amend its pacifist Constitution, he was attacked by many Japanese online as a "traitor" and for being "unpatriotic."

With many people in Japan still very sensitive about the topic of WWII and Japan's role in the war,  it's not surprising that art work involving such elements often finds itself the topic of dispute.

"In Japan, I don't think that there is a force looking to control expression and speech. Instead, I think that there are many in the general audience who reject the idea of viewing political art. That is one of the characteristics among Japanese," Aida told the Global Times.

When it comes right down to it, it seems many Japanese's sensitivity towards political art stems from the divided understanding of that period of history within Japanese society. While many countries around the world have been commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII, Japan has remained distant. Few new art works or publications pertaining to WWII history have been produced for this year's anniversary.

While, in the words of Germany's Ambassador to China Michael Clauss, "reflecting on WWII and its history is a concept that has already taken root in Germany," the same cannot be said of Japan.

It seems Japanese society is still split over whether it should apologize and toward whom it should apologize.

"Many Japanese tend to think of Japan-American relations through the lens of the Pacific War," Aida noted.

"During the war, we fought with China and Korea but many of us have a strong awareness that we were defeated by the US."

"I rarely see Sino-Japanese relationships depicted in art, but do see it in some leftist literature such as that of Makoto Oda," he added.