When Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi announced her trust in President Thein Sein last August, Tin Win Akbar decided it was time to return home after spending almost 16 years as an exile in Japan.

Akbar, 58, who lives in the city of Ota, Gunma Prefecture, and is a member of Nobel laureate and democracy icon Suu Kyi's opposition party, assumed his offer to help rebuild Myanmar after decades of harsh military rule and aid its nascent reform drive would be welcomed back home.

But after a visit to the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo to apply for new passports for his family in January, Akbar realized he was being overly optimistic about the country's recent political and economic changes.