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Foreign journalists club in Japan to retract virus-inspired design

The cover image of the April issue of the Number 1 Shimbun magazine depicted an image of the circular checkered-pattern emblem of the 2020 Games added with club-shaped spikes. (AFP)
The cover image of the April issue of the Number 1 Shimbun magazine depicted an image of the circular checkered-pattern emblem of the 2020 Games added with club-shaped spikes. (AFP)
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21 May 2020 05:05:49 GMT9
21 May 2020 05:05:49 GMT9

TOKYO: The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan said Thursday it will retract a cover design of its monthly magazine that parodied the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic emblem by incorporating the features of the novel coronavirus particle.

The organizing committee of the Tokyo Games had demanded the drawing's retraction.

"We would like to express our sincere regret to anyone who may have (been) offended" by this issue, FCCJ President Khaldon Azhari told an online press conference.

The cover image of the April issue of the Number 1 Shimbun magazine depicted an image of the circular checkered-pattern emblem of the 2020 Games added with club-shaped spikes. The addition made it look like a particle of the new coronavirus that is raging in the world.

In asking the FCCJ to withdraw the design, the Tokyo Games organizing committee had claimed that it amounted to copyright infringement.

Azhari said that the decision to retract the drawing was made based on advice from lawyers.

However, at the press conference, many journalists voiced opposition to the club's decision from the perspective of ensuring freedom of expression.

Toshiro Muto, director-general of the Tokyo Games organizing committee, welcomed the design's withdrawal, saying that the FCCJ made "an appropriate judgment."

JIJI Press

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