Before I go to bed tonight, I will pray hard to Lord Buddha that I wake up as a Japanese in the morning. All my life, I have been Burmese and have thought that human life has equal value worldwide. Recent days have been a rude awakening for me.
I have just realized that a Japanese life is worth more than thousands of Burmese lives. This is evident from the reaction of the Japanese government after a Japanese journalist was killed in Yangon (Sept. 27). The Japanese government has long been aware of the abuses the Burmese people suffer at the hands of the junta every day: summary executions, forced labor, forced relocation, forced conscription of child soldiers and many other atrocities. But Japan's government policy, indifferent toward engaging the military junta, has supported it. Suddenly, the Japanese deputy foreign minister has gone to Burma for an investigation of the death of the Japanese journalist.
Please don't misunderstand me: I, along with all Burmese, appreciate the efforts of journalist Kenji Nagai to expose the living hell in which Burmese live day in and day out to the outside world. Our condolences go to his family. It is sad that an innocent Japanese life had to be lost because the government of Japan had ignored the facts for decades.
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