Myanmar's shadow civilian leadership, the National Unity Government, has established a presence in Japan as part of efforts to restore the democratically-elected administration of Aung San Suu Kyi, which was overthrown in a February 2021 military coup.

Some Japanese lawmakers are rallying behind the NUG, though Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government has yet to recognize it for fear that antagonizing the junta would push it into the embrace of Beijing at a time when the rivalry between China and the United States in the Indo-Pacific region is intensifying.

The NUG appointed Saw Ba Hla Thein, an ethnic Karen who has long been assisting Myanmar refugees in Japan, as representative to Japan on Feb. 1 to provide an alternative to the junta-controlled Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo.