Posts Tagged ‘Dalai Lama’

Dalai Lama Visits Japan, Meets With Press

The Dalai Lama in Japan:

The Dalai Lama on Thursday met with Japan’s former first lady as he started his first foreign trip since protests in Tibet a month ago set off an international furore.

Tibet’s spiritual leader, who has lived in exile in India for nearly 50 years, was on a short stopover in Japan on his way to Seattle, where he will start a series of lectures in the United States on spirituality.

The maroon-robed monk smiled, said hello and put his hands together in a traditional Buddhist greeting as several dozen supporters cheered him on at Narita airport near Tokyo. He was due later to give a press conference.

He met at a hotel with Akie Abe, the wife of Japan’s former conservative prime minister Shinzo Abe who stepped down last year. But he is not expected to meet with officials, said the top spokesman for the Japanese government.

“Government officials have no plan to meet with him. I have also not heard that the Dalai Lama expressed a desire for a meeting,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told reporters.

The Dalai Lama has frequently visited Japan, where his lectures on religious matters enjoy a wide following, and often transits through Narita on his way to North America.

But Japanese leaders, unlike many of their Western counterparts, have almost always refused to meet with the Dalai Lama and no officials were scheduled to meet with him on his stopover.

Japanese Tourist Describes Situation In Tibet

ATV has aired the following report in which a Japanese tourist describes the disorder he witnessed in Tibet:

The tourist claims he saw crowds of rioters destroying Chinese-owned businesses. When the police crackdown began, he and other foreign tourists were restricted to their hotel rooms. From the hotel window he witnessed Chinese tanks on the streets and groups of heavily-armed soldiers who looked like “American SWAT” team members. As he lay in bed in his hotel room, he heard gunfire all through the night.


Some sources are saying that many protesters have been killed by the Chinese security forces, but the Chinese governor of Tibet has denied such claims:

Speaking at a news conference in Beijing, Mr Qiangba said that security forces “did not carry or use any lethal weapons”.

“I can tell you as a responsible official that guns were absolutely not fired,” he said.

The Japanese government has responded to the situation by calling on the Chinese authorities and the Tibetan protesters to “exercise self-restraint.”