Photos: Thousands in Tokyo Rally Against Myanmar’s Military Coup

Photos & Text by Kantaro Komiya

日本語で読む

Over the weeks following the Feb. 1 military coup, the Myanmar community in Japan has reacted with protest movements, organizing candlelight vigils and street rallies to urge Japan and international authorities to confront the junta takeover.

Myanmar protestors in front of United Nations University (UNU) in Tokyo, Japan / Thursday, Feb. 11
Protestors show the three-finger “Hunger Game” salute / Thursday, Feb. 11
Myanmar Protestors at UNU / Thursday, Feb. 11
A protestor holds the X-marked portrait of Army Chief Min Aung Hlaing / Thursday, Feb. 11
A protestor holds a handwritten message sign / Thursday, Feb. 11
A girl with a National League for Democracy (NLD) headband stands among candlelight protestors / Thursday, Feb. 11
Protestors carry cardboard signs, apologizing to Japanese citizens for gathering during the pandemic / Thursday, Feb. 11
Candlelight protestors in front of UNU / Thursday, Feb. 11
Candlelight protestors in front of UNU / Thursday, Feb. 11
A protestor holds up an icon of Aung San Suu Kyi / Thursday, Feb. 11
A protestor shows running digital messages on her smartphone calling to free Aung San Suu Kyi / Thursday, Feb. 11
Protestors carry the portraits of Aung San Suu Kyi / Thursday, Feb. 11
A volunteer staff leads the UNU protestors / Thursday, Feb. 11
Volunteers cheer up the protestors with a speaker playing Burmese songs aloud / Thursday, Feb. 11
Volunteers at the candlelight rally in front of UNU / Thursday, Feb. 11
Volunteers stand before the sitting protestors / Thursday, Feb. 11
Than Swe, leader of the pro-democracy Myanmar community in Japan, addresses protestors / Thursday, Feb. 11
Than Swe and organizers at the candlelight rally at UNU / Thursday, Feb. 11
Protestors carry a banner for the nonviolence rally at Yoyogi Park / Sunday, Feb. 14
Young Myanmar people volunteering at Yoyogi Park to help the country’s Civil Disobedient Movement (CDM) / Sunday, Feb. 14
Thousands of protestors line up in Yoyogi Park, waiting for the street demonstration / Sunday, Feb. 14
Protestors parade a shopping boulevard in Shibuya / Sunday, Feb. 14
Protestors hold anti-coup signboards on Shibuya street / Sunday, Feb. 14
Protestors walk through busy Shibuya crossings escorted by police officers / Sunday, Feb. 14
Protestors of the Kachin group rally through Aoyama street near UNU / Sunday, Feb. 14
Protestors march onto Tokyo’s fashion center Omotesando / Sunday, Feb. 14
Kantaro Komiya
Kantaro Komiya is a 21-years-old, award-winning student journalist currently based in the United States. Through reporting experiences at professional newsrooms, including Bloomberg News and The Japan Times, as well as economics studies at DePauw University, Kantaro has been equally interested in business journalism and business of journalism.