Visitors to a photo exhibition would not typically be asked to open their bags or walk through a metal detector before entering the exhibition site. Nor would they expect to catch the inquisitive gazes of various plainclothes police officers lurking in the crowd once inside.

But that's exactly what nearly 8,000 visitors to the Shinjuku Nikon Salon in Tokyo experienced from June 26 through July 9, when the gallery hosted an exhibition of photos featuring former Korean "comfort women" left behind in China at the end of World War II.

It was certainly an experience unlike any other for Ahn Sehong, the Nagoya-based South Korean photographer behind the exhibit. Ahn, whose earlier works include a documentary on Korean shamanism, was selected by the salon in January to display his works at the prestigious photo exhibition venue in Tokyo, and had been preparing for the show for months. In May, just a month before the scheduled start of the show, Ahn was informed by employees at the salon that Nikon had decided to cancel it. When Ahn asked the salon for a reason, Nikon would only say it was called off "under the circumstances," and refused to elaborate further.