Photo/Illutration Japanese documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota talks in Tokyo on Nov. 24 about when he was in prison in Myanmar. (Koichiro Yoshida)

Japanese documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota, who said he felt "helpless" while facing a 10-year prison sentence in Myanmar, remains undaunted by the ordeal after his sudden release. 

He told The Asahi Shimbun on Nov. 24 that he plans to continue making films.

“I want to convey the reality of the people in Myanmar who are risking their lives to protect their freedom in the face of invisible violence where they cannot speak up,” he said.

But Kubota admitted that the three and a half months behind bars weighed on him. 

“I felt like an avalanche of despair, without any future in sight, was weighing on me,” the 26-year-old filmmaker said.

Kubota had traveled to Myanmar in July during the continuing turmoil over the military’s coup in February 2021 that gave it control over the Southeast Asian country.

Security forces detained him on July 30 while he was filming an anti-military protest.

Kubota said the military held him at gunpoint, blindfolded him and then forced him into a car.

“My mind went blank,” he said.

Around 20 people were confined in a space the size of six tatami mats (9.7 square meters) at the police station’s detention center.

“We had to sleep on top of each other in this awful stench,” Kubota said. “I felt like I was in hell.”

He was sent to Insein Prison in Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar, on Aug. 4, where he was placed in solitary confinement in a space that was about 10 square meters.

Meals such as porridge and curry were served.

Kubota said he kept a diary using a pen he had secretly kept on him to keep up his spirits.

In October, Kubota was sentenced to 10 years in prison on three charges that included incitement.

After his sentence, he said he couldn’t see any signs of his release.

“I felt so helpless that I didn’t know who I was,” he said.

Amid such a dire situation, he said the other inmates taught him Burmese and encouraged him.

“I learned to have a strong and flexible spirit to keep getting up each day, even when in such despair,” he said.

On the morning of Nov. 17, the head of the prison suddenly told him to “get out now.” He was released from prison and returned to Japan the following day. 

Kubota began making documentaries while a student at Keio University. His major works include “Light up Rohingya,” in which he followed the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar.

Related News