Three Fingers for Freedom: Myanmarese Goalkeeper Pyae Lyan Aung’s Path to Asylum in Japan

Pyae Lyan Aung (left) and Han Sein relax at a Tokyo park after soccer practice in September 2021.

Pyae Lyan Aung tends goal in Tokyo in September 2022.

Pyae Lyan Aung (back row, center) raises the three-finger salute with his Myanmar Football Club teammates at a futsal tournament in Yokohama on October 16, 2022.

Pyae Lyan Aung streams live on his smartphone during a demonstration in front of the Burmese Embassy in Japan in February 2022.

Pyae Lyan Aung at a press conference in Yokohama on September 14, 2021, after joining YSCC’s futsal team. (© Kyōdō)

Pyae Lyan Aung talks to the press in Yokohama in October 2021 after failing to make the roster for a game.

Pyae Lyan Aung (left) cries while talking about the situation in Myanmar during a post-practice interview in Yokohama in July 2021.

The bus carrying Pyae Lyan Aung and his teammates readies to depart for Kansai International Airport in June 2021, after efforts to free the soccer player failed.

Pyae Lyan Aung raises the three-finger salute at Kansai International Airport in June 2021 after refusing to board his flight back to Myanmar.