The Japanese ambassador to Myanmar on Thursday met with a Japanese executive of a local supermarket joint venture who has been detained for allegedly violating rules on the selling price of rice, the Japanese Embassy in Yangon said.
Ambassador Ichiro Maruyama found Hiroshi Kasamatsu, 53, the merchandise division chief of Aeon Orange Co., in good health when they met. Kasamatsu has been under interrogation at a police station in Myanmar's largest city since Sunday.
The supermarket is a joint venture established in 2016 between major Japanese retailer Aeon Co. and its local partner Creation Myanmar Group of Companies Ltd.
The meeting with Kasamatsu was realized at the request of the Japanese government, which is seeking his early release.
Japan will continue to request the military government, which has ruled Myanmar since ousting its civilian government in a February 2021 coup, to release him as soon as possible, the embassy said.
Kasamatsu and 10 Myanmar nationals have been held for allegedly selling rice at prices 50 to 70 percent higher than the level mandated by authorities.
A local lawyer has been visiting Kasamatsu and delivering necessary goods to him, and the embassy has received information about him from the lawyer.
The detention of a Japanese-affiliated company official in Myanmar, a rare crackdown on a foreigner for violating price regulations, came despite Japan not imposing sanctions on the Southeast Asian country's military or associated individuals and groups following the coup, unlike Western countries.
