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