The Japanese ambassador to Myanmar met with a Japanese executive of a local supermarket joint venture who was detained for violating rice price rules, the Japanese Embassy in Yangon said. Ambassador Ichiro Maruyama found Hiroshi Kasamatsu in good health during the meeting. Kasamatsu, the merchandise division chief of Aeon Orange Co., has been under interrogation since Sunday in Myanmar’s largest city.
The supermarket, a joint venture between Aeon Co. and Creation Myanmar Group of Companies Ltd., was established in 2016. The Japanese government requested the meeting with Kasamatsu and is seeking his early release. Japan will continue to urge the military government, ruling Myanmar since the 2021 coup, to release him promptly.
Kasamatsu and 10 Myanmar nationals were detained for allegedly selling rice above mandated prices. Despite no sanctions from Japan on Myanmar’s military post-coup, the Japanese-affiliated official’s detention was a rare crackdown on a foreigner violating price regulations.
© KYODO