Photo/Illutration Kiyoshi Ochiai, middle, with his wife, Ma Hay Mar, left, and a student in Tokyo on Jan. 30 (Azusa Kato)

The number of Myanmar nationals residing in Japan has surged since the Southeast Asian country’s military took power four years ago, and Kiyoshi Ochiai continues to help others escape the hardships there.

Ochiai, 62, a former high school teacher, has been giving free online Japanese lessons almost every day to students in Myanmar who want to learn the language.

Demand for such lessons has grown dramatically since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021.

Ochiai currently offers about 10 online classes a week, each lasting 75 to 90 minutes.

On one weekday morning in late January, Ochiai asked his students a question on the computer screen.

“Today we are going to learn the expression, ‘yogi naku sareru’ (no choice but to). When would you use this expression?”

On the screen were seven students in Myanmar, who read example sentences.

Ochiai asked them what the words meant, and then explained the sentences in easy Japanese.

The teacher first visited Myanmar in the 1990s, studied the Burmese language, and traveled there annually. He later established a nonprofit organization to promote cultural exchanges between Japan and Myanmar.

His students are mainly people in their 20s who are studying the language with hopes of traveling to Japan.

According to the Immigration Services Agency, 110,306 Myanmar nationals were living in Japan as of June 2024, more than three times the number at the end of 2020.

The latest figure was also up 27.5 percent from the end of 2023, the sharpest increase among foreign nationals residing in Japan.

Most of the Myanmar nationals came to Japan as technical intern trainees or workers with specific skills, but the number of students from Myanmar is also rising.

One of Ochiai’s students, a 23-year-old woman, plans to work in Japan on a specified technical visa.

“Since the coup, the cost of living has become higher while salaries remain low,” she said. “Perhaps because of the hardships of life, there are many crimes, such as thefts of motorcycles and smartphones. I want to work in safe Japan and help my family.”

Another student, a 21-year-old man who plans to come to Japan on a specified technical visa, said the conscription announced by the Myanmar military in February 2024 was a deciding factor.

“I started learning Japanese because I wanted to see a new world. But now I want to escape to Japan because I am worried about being drafted,” he said. “My family is worried about me and is urging me to go to Japan.”

Ochiai said he has taught more than 60 young people in Myanmar, and about 20 of them have already come to Japan.

One of them, a 23-year-old woman, works at an “izakaya” pub in Tokyo to send money home to her family in Myanmar. She is also setting aside funds to attend college in Japan.

“Four years have passed since the coup, but it seems like only yesterday because nothing has changed. In fact, the situation has gotten worse,” she said.

“I feel like Myanmar is being forgotten by the international community, and I, too, have strong feelings of giving up.”

She said she now works for “self-realization” and for her family. But she has also made small donations to an organization that supports Myanmar.

“I think this is what I can do for Myanmar now,” she said.

With demand for Japanese language lessons growing, Ochiai plans to offer two more classes in the future.

“I am happy to see more students improving their Japanese and coming to Japan,” he said. “On the other hand, they should have been able to live in Myanmar. I want to continue to provide all the support I can for young people in Myanmar who are facing the reality of having no choice but to work in Japan.”

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