• Burmese
Saturday, July 12, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
25 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Burma

State Counselor Meets Burmese Exiles in Japan

Nyein Nyein by Nyein Nyein
November 2, 2016
in Burma
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0 0
A A
State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi meets in Tokyo on Wednesday with members of the Burmese expatriate community in Japan. / Ministry of Foreign Affairs Myanmar / Facebook

State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi meets in Tokyo on Wednesday with members of the Burmese expatriate community in Japan. / Ministry of Foreign Affairs Myanmar / Facebook

5.7k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Burma’s State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met over one thousand Burmese residents of Japan in the capital Tokyo on Wednesday. Exiled democracy activists present expressed a keen desire to return to Burma but face difficulties obtaining new passports.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is also Burma’s foreign minister, began her five-day official visit to Japan on Tuesday—the first trip to the country since the National League for Democracy government assumed power in April. She is expected to secure additional aid and investment for Burma from the world’s third largest economy.

On the same day, she met with the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. She will later visit Kyoto, where she once lived while researching the life of her father, independence hero Aung San, who was trained by the Japanese to fight the British during World War II.

RelatedPosts

Global Campaign Reaches Goal to Honor Aung San Suu Kyi on Her 80th Birthday

Global Campaign Reaches Goal to Honor Aung San Suu Kyi on Her 80th Birthday

June 18, 2025
1.2k
Paranoid Junta Turns to Foreign Expertise After 4 Years of Chaos; and More

Paranoid Junta Turns to Foreign Expertise After 4 Years of Chaos; and More

May 10, 2025
1.6k
Live Updates: Death Toll Exceeds 3,000; Indian Army field hospital begins operations; 70 Aftershocks Within a Week and more

Live Updates: Death Toll Exceeds 3,000; Indian Army field hospital begins operations; 70 Aftershocks Within a Week and more

April 3, 2025
1.2k

At the hour-and-a-half gathering on Wednesday, arranged by the Burmese embassy in Tokyo, the State Counselor encouraged Burmese expatriates to work hard to better themselves and contribute to their host country. She took questions on political, social, economic and cultural topics, delivered to her in envelopes by attendants.

Questions touched on poverty in Chin State, rule of law in Burma, the peace process, the state of education, and difficulties in reclaiming Burmese passports for Burmese expatriates in light of demands to pay hefty back-taxes.

Members of the Burmese community in Japan were among the first activists to be driven into exile by the Burmese military junta after it crushed the 1988 pro-democracy movement. Many of are now eager to revisit or move back.

Many exiled activists discarded their passports or allowed them to expire—getting by since with residency documents provided to political asylum seekers in Japan—and refused to pay tax to the junta. However, the Burmese embassy has demanded they pay back-taxes on all the years spent abroad before being issued new passports.

Exiled activists have objected to this as overly harsh, given that they have been paying tax to the Japanese government, which does not have a tax treaty with the Burmese government. The added burden would be more than they could afford, they say.

“Before we boycotted our passports and did not want our tax money to be used by the military dictatorship,” said Ye Nyein, who has been living in Japan for 18 years, and is a member of the Union of Myanmar Citizens Association-Japan.

He said they now wanted to pay their taxes as Burmese citizens, but drew the line at paying the back-taxes. Many others in his community desperately wished to return to their homeland, he said, but were unable to do so without new passports.

“We, who were the pro-democracy activists, are hoping to be able to return to our home country with dignity,” Ye Nyein told The Irrawaddy.

During the meeting in Tokyo, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said that the Burmese government is trying to enable them to come home as quickly as possible, so long as they do not have a criminal record.

Regarding the passport dilemma, she said the government was trying to find a “fair solution,” taking into account those who continued to pay tax regularly while abroad and those who are now facing demands to pay substantial back-taxes.

Your Thoughts …
Tags: Aung San Suu KyiExiled ActivistsForeign RelationsJapanState Counselor
Nyein Nyein

Nyein Nyein

The Irrawaddy

Similar Picks:

Myanmar Junta Counteroffensives Failing Across Country: Analysts
Analysis

Myanmar Junta Counteroffensives Failing Across Country: Analysts

by Hein Htoo Zan
September 20, 2024
16.8k

Three major operations to retake territory from ethnic armies and their allies are being hampered by troop shortages, experts say.

Read moreDetails
Japan’s ‘Special Relationship’ With Myanmar Has Abetted Decades of Military Rule
From the Archive

Japan’s ‘Special Relationship’ With Myanmar Has Abetted Decades of Military Rule

by Bertil Lintner
May 17, 2024
17.8k

In light of EAO and NUG leaders’ recent talks in Tokyo, The Irrawaddy revisits a column from 2022 exploring Japan’s...

Read moreDetails
On Leadership and Power in Myanmar
From the Archive

On Leadership and Power in Myanmar

by David Steinberg
December 10, 2024
8.2k

In memory of Professor David Steinberg, who passed away last week, The Irrawaddy revisits his 2022 article on how Myanmar...

Read moreDetails
Myanmar Junta Boss Returns to China’s Embrace After Russia Trip
Myanmar-China Watch

Myanmar Junta Boss Returns to China’s Embrace After Russia Trip

by The Irrawaddy
March 12, 2025
5.4k

Min Aung Hlaing hosts Chinese envoy for talks on Beijing’s Shan intervention and support for regime’s planned poll.   

Read moreDetails
Rakhine War: Dozens More Defeated Myanmar Junta Troops Flee to Bangladesh
Myanmar’s Crisis & the World

Rakhine War: Dozens More Defeated Myanmar Junta Troops Flee to Bangladesh

by Muktadir Rashid  
June 13, 2024
5.3k

Latest exodus from battle with Arakan Army comes just days after Dhaka repatriated 134 regime runaways. 

Read moreDetails
India Curries Favor; Junta Boss Showers Titles – Hail ‘King Putin’; and More
Junta Watch

India Curries Favor; Junta Boss Showers Titles – Hail ‘King Putin’; and More

by The Irrawaddy
March 8, 2025
4.2k

Also this week, the regime chief strengthened ties with Russia and Belarus during a goodwill tour of his key allies.

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
A worker pictured in a tin mine factory at Maw Maw, in ethnic Wa territory in northeast Burma on October 5, 2015. / Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters

After Burma’s Supply Spike, Tin Looks for a Brighter Future

The Joint Monitoring Committee’s verification team. / Min Zaw Oo / Facebook

Govt Team Investigates Cause of Conflict in Shan State

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

‘Reforms Are Not Optional’: Prominent Activist Urges NUG to Act Before It’s Too Late

‘Reforms Are Not Optional’: Prominent Activist Urges NUG to Act Before It’s Too Late

2 days ago
1k
Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

3 days ago
1k

Most Read

  • Chinese Investment Reshapes Myanmar’s N. Shan as MNDAA Consolidates Power

    Chinese Investment Reshapes Myanmar’s N. Shan as MNDAA Consolidates Power

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Deploying Conscripts in Major Push to Reclaim Lost Territory

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Chief Thanks Trump for Shutting Down VOA and RFA

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • KIA Denies Rumor Chief Under House Arrest in China

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Not a Witch Hunt’: Upholding Survivor-Centered Justice in Myanmar

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.