Nude Spears photo to be censored in Tokyo

TOKYO (UPI) -- A subway network operator has ordered a Japanese publisher to censor a nude photo of Britney Spears that is part of an advertisement in a Tokyo subway station.

The Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun reported the picture of the pop singer, which is from the cover of the Harper's Bazaar October issue, will be censored by HB Japan, Inc. after the Tokyo Metro Co. complained the advertisement was inappropriate.

The photo, which shows Spears nude and pregnant, will now be covered from the stomach down as part of a settlement between the two companies regarding the photo's message and its alleged inappropriate nature.

"We apologize for covering part of the image of a beautiful future mother," the now edited version of the photo reads. "In this place, we can't show the same image (as the magazine), so we made the change."

The advertisement is one of six that HB Japan planned to use at Omotesando Subway Station to celebrate its sixth anniversary of publishing the Japanese edition of Harper's Bazaar, the paper said.