Tokyo: On 9 March 2025, Tibetans and Japanese supporters, along with members of the Southern Mongolian and Uyghur communities, observed the 66th anniversary of the Tibetan people’s uprising against the Chinese communist regime in Tokyo. The Tibetan Community in Japan (TCJ) and the Students for Free Tibet Japan (SFTJ) organised the function and the peace march.

A group of Tibetan and Japanese demonstrators protested before the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo in the morning. They raised slogans to free Tibet and stop repression and cultural genocide in Tibet. They raised slogans to stop the Chinese colonial boarding schools in Tibet. Taro Kanada of the Students for Free Tibet Japan read the statement drawing the attention of the Chinese leadership to the worsening human rights situation in Tibet. The statement was posted in the embassy’s letterbox later.

The main function was held at Jingu Dori Park in Shibuya city. Taro Kanada of the SFTJ moderated the event. After observing a minute of silence to pray for the recent earthquake victims and the demise of His Holiness’s elder brother Gyalo Dhondup, the Tibetan national anthem was sung at the event.

Representative Dr Tsewang Gyalpo Arya of the Liaison Office of H.H. the Dalai Lama thanked the gathering for their participation and support of the Tibet issue. He talked about how Tibet has been an independent country since ancient times and how the CCP has been trying to distort its history. He informed the gathering about the US Resolve Tibet Act and its main content and requested the Japanese government to establish a similar Tibetan policy. Dr Arya explained the CCP’s deadly religious laws and the colonial boarding schools to rob the Tibetan children of their identity, language, religion, and culture.

He explained that the Tibetans are not anti-China or anti-Chinese, Tibetans are against the brutal colonial and repressive policy of the CCP regime. He prayed for the freedom of the Chinese people and democracy in China.

Dorjee Shiota of the Tibetan Community Japan briefed the gathering on the illegal occupation of Tibet by the CCP and the Chinese atrocities in Tibet. He urged the Chinese leadership to stop killings and atrocities in Tibet.

Tsering Dorjee of the Students for Free Tibet Japan thanked the Japanese, Uyghur, and Southern Mongolian participants for their continued support for the Tibet issue and resolve to work together for freedom and justice.

The gathering composing nearly a hundred people did a peace march from Jingu Dori Park and passed through the busy Shibuya street of Miyashita Park, Shibuya scramble square with Hachiko’s monument and Ometosando pass for more than two hours. The passerby showed their support by waving hands, raising thumb stand, and clapping.

A Japanese supporter has made a banner with photos of the Tibetans, who committed self-immolation to protest the CCP regime, to appeal for the Tibet issue more forcefully. Some Japanese have come from far-off distant prefectures to show their solidarity with the Tibetans on this important historic day. Representatives of the Japan Uyghur Association and Southern Mongolian Congress participated in the event to demonstrate their solidarity.

-Report filed by the Office of Tibet, Japan