TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 18, 2024--
In Metropolitan Tokyo, the TOKYO Night & Light projection mapping show uses the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Main Building No. 1, a typical Tokyo landmark, as a canvas to present colorful art with light and sound. This show is presented nightly throughout the year, providing a new sightseeing resource that lights up the Tokyo night.
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This project has been recognized by the Guinness World Records™ as the "Largest architectural projection-mapped display (permanent)" and has attracted over 200,000 visitors in the first 3 months since the start of the show, on February 25, 2024.
On weekends and holidays, the show has been showing the work "Godzilla: Attack on Tokyo" featuring the world-famous Godzilla, who is celebrating his 70th birthday this year! The 100-meter tall mighty Godzilla, the same one from the "VS Series" films, is projected at life-size scale onto the wall of the Metropolitan Government Building, and his breathtaking fight with the new anti-Godzilla weapon "Super X2 modified" is a must-see.
The show also features “Ukiyo,“ a Japanese-style content inspired by Ukiyo-e paintings. Ukiyo-e paintings are works of art developed during the Edo period (1603-1868) and which depict various aspects of daily life with vivid and delicate colors. The term "ukiyo" itself refers to a world that is constantly changing. Using visuals generated by AI learning and CG by the creators of the show facilitated a connection between the world of Ukiyo-e paintings and contemporary pop culture.
Enjoy this projection mapping show where you can experience Japanese culture on the world's largest canvas.
You can find the show schedule here:
https://tokyoprojectionmappingproject.jp/en/event/20240225/
The original source-language text of this announcement is the official, authoritative version. Translations are provided as an accommodation only, and should be cross-referenced with the source-language text, which is the only version of the text intended to have legal effect.
TOKYO Night & Light "Ukiyo" (Photo: Business Wire)
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court on Wednesday convicted an al-Qaida-linked extremist leader of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Mali, notably for abusing prisoners as the de facto chief of the Islamic police in the historic desert city of Timbuktu.
Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud sat stoically while the decision finding him guilty of torture and cruel treatment between 2012 and 2013 was read out.
Judges continued to read the verdict on the many other charges he faced for his alleged role in a reign of terror insurgents unleashed on Timbuktu, including rape, torture, persecution, enforced marriages and sexual slavery.
Al Hassan faces up to life imprisonment when a sentence is handed down at a later date.
Prosecutors say he was a key member of Ansar Dine, an Islamic extremist group with links to al-Qaida that held power in northern Mali at the time.
Women and girls suffered in particular under Ansar Dine’s repressive regime, facing corporal punishment and imprisonment, the court's then-chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said at the start of Al Hassan's trial nearly four years ago.
“Many were forced into marriage,” Bensouda said. “Confined against their will and repeatedly raped by members of the armed group.” Al Hassan was involved in organizing such marriages, the prosecutor told judges.
She cited one rape victim as saying, “All that was left of me was a corpse.”
Defense lawyer Melinda Taylor told judges that Al Hassan was a member of the Islamic police force who was “obliged to respect and execute the decisions of the Islamic tribunal. This is what the police around the world do.”
In Timbuktu, victims of Ansar Dine crimes were awaiting possible compensation.
“We are waiting and hoping for a judgment that will give us justice," said Yehia Hamma Cissé, president of a group of victims’ associations in the Timbuktu region.
“Members of our associations have been raped, had their hands cut off, been whipped, and we would like to be compensated," he said.
The court made a reparation order following the 2016 conviction of an Ansar Dine member, Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi. He was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment for attacking nine mausoleums and a mosque door in Timbuktu in 2012.
A French-led military operation in 2013 forced Al Hassan and others from power.
Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance instead.
Col. Assimi Goita, who took charge in Mali after a second coup in 2021, promised to return the country to democracy in early 2024. But in September, the junta canceled elections scheduled for February 2024 indefinitely, citing the need for further technical preparations.
The verdicts in Al Hassan’s case were delayed by some six months due to the illness of one of the judges in his trial.
Associated Press journalist Baba Ahmed in Bamako, Mali, contributed to this report.
FILE - Mohamed Maouloud Ould Mohamed, a mausoleum caretaker, prays at a damaged tomb in Timbuktu, Mali, April 4, 2014. The International Criminal Court unsealed an arrest warrant Friday June 21, 2024, for a Malian accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the desert city of Timbuktu in 2012-13, where he is suspected of leading an al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremist group. (AP Photo/Baba Ahmed, File)
Exterior of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud talks to his defense counsel at the courtroom of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, where judges deliver the verdict in the trial of the suspect accused of playing a key role in a reign of terror unleashed by al-Qaida-linked insurgents on the historic desert city of Timbuktu in northern Mali in 2012. Al Hassan could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted on charges including involvement in crimes including rape, torture, persecution, enforced marriages and sexual slavery. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, Pool)
Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud greets his defense team, with main defense counsel Melinda Taylor, right, in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, where judges deliver their verdict in the trial of the suspect accused of playing a key role in a reign of terror unleashed by al-Qaida-linked insurgents on the historic desert city of Timbuktu in northern Mali in 2012. Al Hassan could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted on charges including involvement in crimes including rape, torture, persecution, enforced marriages and sexual slavery. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, Pool)
Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud rises as judges enters the courtroom of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, where judges delivered the verdict in the trial of the suspect accused of playing a key role in a reign of terror unleashed by al-Qaida-linked insurgents on the historic desert city of Timbuktu in northern Mali in 2012. Al Hassan could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted on charges including involvement in crimes including rape, torture, persecution, enforced marriages and sexual slavery. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, Pool)
FILE - People attending a ceremony stand near a mausoleum, right, that was restored in Timbuktu, Mali, July 18, 2015, after the 14 mausoleums in Mali's northern historic city that had been destroyed by Islamic extremists in 2012 have been restored. The International Criminal Court unsealed an arrest warrant Friday June 21, 2024, for a Malian accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the desert city of Timbuktu in 2012-13, where he is suspected of leading an al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremist group. (AP Photo/Baba Ahmed, File)
FILE - Fighters from Islamist group Ansar Dine stand guard in Timbuktu, Mali, Aug. 31, 2012, as they prepare to publicly lash a member of the Islamic Police found guilty of adultery. The International Criminal Court unsealed an arrest warrant Friday June 21, 2024, for a Malian accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the desert city of Timbuktu in 2012-13, where he is suspected of leading an al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremist group. (AP Photo/File)
