Osaka has threatened to cut its sister city ties with San Francisco over a memorial to wartime sex slaves. Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura announced the plan at a press conference, saying he would end relations should San Francisco integrate land containing the statue into a public park. The memorial was built…
Osaka has threatened to cut its sister city ties with San Francisco over a memorial to wartime sex slaves.
Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura announced the plan at a press conference, saying he would end relations should San Francisco integrate land containing the statue into a public park.
The memorial was built last week on a privately owned plot next to a municipal park by a group of Chinese Americans and their supporters, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
Japanese media has reported that San Francisco intends to extend the boundaries of the park because the owner of the plot wants to give it to the city.
« If San Francisco were to accept the donation, it will mean the city has expressed its wish to accept it in a public space, » Yoshimura told reporters.
