Japan and Burmese independence movements

U Ottama, one of the central figures in Burma's early independence movement, travelled to Japan in 1907, teaching Pali and Sanskrit at the Academy of Buddhist Science in Tokyo. The Russo-Japanese War in 1904 was a turning point in his life that later inspired his anti-colonial activities.^[9] The Japanese naval victory at the Battle of Tsushima in the war saw great attention and prestige in Burmese newspapers at the time.^[10]

From the life of U Ottama, many prominent Burmese figures in the anti-colonial and independence movements were involved with Japan. In 1935, Galon U Saw, a future Prime Minister of British Burma, and Nyi Pu, the first film actor in Burmese cinema, visited Japan. They studied the factories, military, film industry and education systems of Japan.^[11] U Saw and U Ottama came to believe that Myanmar could only gain independence with Japan's help.^[12]

Imperial Japan and World War II

Suzuki Keiji, mentor of the Thirty Comrades

In April 1941, small groups of Burmese youth left Burma secretly to obtain military training to fight the British Colonists in the struggle for independence. They were sent by the Dobama Asiayone to get assistance from the Kuomintang in Guangzhou. However, they ran into the Japanese instead in Amoy and arrived in Japan later to be flown to occupied parts of Sanya, in order to receive military training by the Imperial Japanese Army.^[13] They were later moved to Formosa for security reasons and subsequently returned to Burma with the Japanese invasion in 1942.^[14] A Japanese officer called Suzuki Keiji, better known among the Burmese by his nom de guerre Bo Mogyo (Commander Thunderbolt) and head of a special intelligence unit called Minami Kikan (南機関) formed in order to support a national uprising in Burma, was the mentor and principal trainer of the Thirty Comrades.^[13]

After the Japanese invasion of Burma, Japan declared the colony independent as the State of Burma on 17 May 1942 with a puppet government led by Ba Maw.^[15] However, the soon became apparent that Japanese promises of independence was a sham. As the war turned against the Japanese, a disillusioned Aung San began negotiating with communist and socialist leaders forming the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League opposing Japanese fascism.^[16]

Post World War II

After World War II, Japan–Myanmar relations returned to having a stable relationship. On 9 November 1954, the treatment of Burma by the Japanese in WW2 was settled by the peace treaty and reparations agreement signed by Myanmar foreign minister Kyaw Nyein and Japanese foreign minister Okazaki Katsuo. The agreement was approved by the Japanese Parliament and pledged to give Myanmar US$200 million in reparations and $50 million to support economic cooperation over the next 10 years which would come to include the rebuilding of Yangon Port. Later, in 1966, Japan reviewed the agreement and provided and additional $140 million.^[1]

Japan and Burma entered an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement in 1963, just after Ne Win's 1962 Burmese coup d'état.^[2] During the socialist period, Japan and Myanmar held some of the strongest ties among Asian countries with the relationship with Ne Win's government often being called "special relations."^[3] Ne Win himself was one of the Thirty Comrades trained by Suzuki Keiji.^[17]

Foregin Minister Koichiro Gemba & Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon, 2011

In the aftermath of the 8888 Uprising and the subsequent State Law and Order Restoration Council coup, Japan's support was significantly reduced until the 2011 transition to civilian rule.^[2] Japan was one of few countries with meaningful influence to encourage national reconciliation but failed to exert its influence due to souring relations with the new military government.^[3] Japan, unlike Western countries, approved the name change to Myanmar in 1989.^[2] In 2003, Khin Nyunt, the Prime Minister of Myanmar visited Japan to attend a regional summit a few months after Japan froze aid to Myanmar after the military took Aung San Suu Kyi into custody.^[18]

In the wake of Myanmar's economic reforms in the 2010s, Japan increased its investment^[19] and political involvement in Myanmar. In 2013, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe visited Myanmar to discuss economic development in one of the first high-level official visits from Japan to Myanmar. Abe visited Myanmar just a few weeks after the first human rights dialogue between the two countries^[20] Thein Sein would visit Japan multiple times in the 2010s^[21][22] for biannual Japan–Myanmar summits and his successor President Htin Kyaw would follow suit in 2017.^[23]

Recent relations

Protestors in cosplay in front of Japanese Embassy Yangon, 2021

After the 1 February 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, when Min Aung Hlaing ousted the NLD democratic government, thousands of demonstrators protested in Tokyo just 13 days after the coup.^[24] During the protests, Japanese journalist Yuki Kitazumi was charged on 4 May 2021 by the military junta for spreading false news, the first foreign journalist to be charged by the military junta since the coup.^[25]

Japan denounced the coup twice on 21 February and 28 February, strongly condemning the situation and the imprisonment of protestors.^[26] Japan's denouncement came slower than other G7 nations as Japanese Minister of Defence Yasuhide Nakayama believed that a cautious approach was necessary to keep Myanmar from growing further from the democratic community and joining the "League of China."^[27] Japan entered a dilemma in that if it sanctioned the military in the footsteps of many other Western countries, it could lose critical access and leverage over the Myanmar military.^[28] Furthermore, Japan's approach was also impacted by ASEAN's approach to the crisis. Japan had spent decades investing in the stability of Southeast Asia at large and could not undermine ASEAN's role^[26] or its own policy in the Indo-Pacific bridging repressive regimes with the wider community.^[29]

Japanese filmmaker Toru Kubota was sentenced to 10 years in jail on sedition charges after being detained in July 2022 for documenting anti-government demonstrations and reporting on the Rohingya minority previously.^[30] Kubota would be released in a mass amnesty on 17 November 2022 with Human Rights groups saying that the junta was engaging in hostage tactics to negotiate with foreign powers. Japan's chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno maintained that they will continue to demand Myanmar take specific actions for the reinstatement of democracy.^[31]

Only July 23, 2022, the State Administration Council junta of Myanmar executed four political prisoners, marking the first time the death penalty had been carried out in Myanmar since the late 1980s.^[32] The G7 Nations, including Japan, issued a joint statement condemning the executions for its disregard of human rights and the rule of law.^[33] In the lead up to the 2020 Myanmar general election, Yōhei Sasakawa of the Nippon Foundation was appointed special envoy to Myanmar by Japan. He negotiated a ceasefire between the Arakan Army, an armed group in Rakhine State and the Myanmar Army in preparation to hold elections in the area.^[34] Later, during the course of the 2021-2022 Myanmar civil war, the Arakan Army would return to war. Sasakawa would broker yet another ceasefire by acting as an intermediary in November 2022 on humanitarian grounds.^[35] Junta spokespeople say that this is the first step towards a permanent ceasefire with the Arakan Army.^[36]