TOKYO: Japanese journalists are asking for donations of cameras and microphones to lend them out free of charge to Myanmarese video journalists who fled their home country after the February 2021 military coup.

“We want to help them as they continue reporting even in difficult circumstances,” one of the Japanese journalists said.

The project was initiated by journalist Yuki Kitazumi, 48, and documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota, 27. Both were temporarily detained while covering the aftermath of the coup in Myanmar.

According to Kitazumi, more than 100 Myanmarese including video journalists are hiding in Mae Sot, a northwestern Thai district bordering Myanmar.

Some could not take their cameras or other equipment with them when they fled their country, while others had to sell their equipment for a living. To many, it is difficult to secure equipment for continuous reporting activities.

The group of Kitazumi and Kubota lends donated cameras, lenses, flash memory cards, microphones and other equipment to Myanmarese free of charge through a Thai organization. It also plans to give such people training in news gathering and handling equipment.

“The situation in Myanmar has deteriorated very much,” Kitazumi said. “We want to create through our project an environment in which (Myanmarese journalists) can continue their work.”

The support project is also intended to show respect for Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai, who was shot dead at age 50 while covering anti-government protests in Myanmar in 2007.

In April last year, the video camera Nagai held until his death was returned to his bereaved family through an independent media organization in the Southeast Asian country.

The videotape in the camera contained some footage of security forces and citizens, but the footage was cut short just before the shooting incident.

Kitazumi and others have released the footage with Myanmarese subtitles to ask for information on how the camera was returned and details of events recorded in the video.

Nagai’s sister, Noriko Ogawa, 64, expressed hope that the footage will not only help clarify the truth of the shooting incident but also lead to an improvement in Myanmar’s society.

JIJI Press