A fundraising event called the "Revolutionary Nway Oo Thingyan Festival" was held in Kobe City, Japan, to support internally displaced people (IDPs) and the people's defense forces (PDFs), in Myanmar on 16 April.
The fundraiser drew more than 2,500 Burmese and 300 Japanese. According to one of the organisers, the event was originally scheduled to take place in a park in Osaka City, but because of the venue's capacity restriction of 500 people, it had to be moved to Kobe City.
Speaking before the event, one of the organisers, U Kaung Chit Thae, the vice chairman of the Myanmar Nationalities' Support Organisation said: "The fundraiser's goal is to support the Myanmar-based volunteer organisations IDPs, PDF, and others. This event is not being planned for fun; we are not even playing with water. Antiphonal chants and a motivational speech will also be performed at the event.”
He said that 50 per cent of the funds received from the event would be donated to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management under the National Unity Government (NUG) and the remaining 50 per cent would be donated to local resistance forces that are actually working on the ground.
One of the leaders of Myanmar Relief Center (Japan) who came to the event, Khae Konaka Osan, said of the event: "Some people think that we are organizing this event for fun. But we are organising this event to support one another, share our emotions, and of course, we also supporting necessary organisations in Myanmar.”
Mr. Fujita San, a participant in the Myanmar Relief Centre (Japan), also discussed the rationale behind his organisation's desire for Burmese individuals to take part in its fundraising event for Myanmar.
"After organising the event, we now know there are lots of Burmese communities in Japan for sure. So, the fundraising event is really helpful for the people in Myanmar and we all need to unite and cooperate to organise similar events in the future with Burmese people”, he said.
Tickets for the festival were priced at 2,000 yen and there were also food stalls selling traditional Burmese food such as Mohinga, Myeik Kat Kay Kike (fried-flat rice noodles).
