This fall, five families from Myanmar arrived in Japan filled with hope and excitement for a new life.
For the 27 ethnic Karen allowed to resettle here, it was the start of a new chapter in their lives, having first fled their home to escape persecution by Myanmar's military junta and then spending years of trying to survive in a refugee camp in Thailand.
And for Japan, this is a unique attempt to accept asylum seekers as part of the so-called third-country resettlement program initiated by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the first such attempt by an Asian nation.