Suu Kyi arrives in Japan after 27 years
AAP April 13, 201310:59PM
Myanmar's democracy hero Aung San Suu Kyi has arrived in Japan after 27 years. Source: AAP
AUNG San Suu Kyi has arrived in Japan, her first visit to the country where she spent time as a university researcher nearly three decades ago.
A group of well-wishers including Burmese gathered at Tokyo's Narita airport to greet Ms Suu Kyi, now her country's opposition leader, but were denied the chance to meet her as she left through a backdoor.
"I respect her like my mother," one of Burmese women said in an interview with public broadcaster NHK.
"I want to tell her that I support her strongly."
During her six-day trip, the Nobel laureate is expected to have meetings with some of the approximately 10,000 Burmese who live in Japan, as well as with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.
It is Ms Suu Kyi's first visit to Japan since spending time as a researcher at Kyoto University in 1985-86.
But a leader of about 200 of Burma's Muslim minority Rohingya in Japan has expressed disappointment after being told his community was not wanted at events welcoming Ms Suu Kyi.
The Rohingya have been described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.
