1941
Colonel Suzuki Keiji of the Minami Kikan
room Japan
Japan's ties to the Myanmar armed forces go back to the very founding of the Burma Independence Army in 1941. The pivotal figure on the Japanese side was Colonel Suzuki Keiji of the Minami Kikan (a sort of special operations directorate), who first recruited General Aung San and trained the now legendary Thirty Comrades.
Colonel Suzuki and his Minami Kikan fellow-officers came to associate closely with Burma's desire for independence and were at times distrusted by their own Japanese superiors. Colonel Suzuki maintained a life-long connection with Myanmar and welcomed General Ne Win (whom he had also trained) to Tokyo in 1966. Later, General Ne Win invited Colonel Suzuki's widow to Yangon in 1981 and then visited her in Japan that same year. Gatherings of the old Minami Kikan veterans was held as late as 1995.
Japanese Colonel Suzuki in Myanmar costume, seated between Bo Aung San and Bo Ne Win, can be seen in the photograph .