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37th Anniversary Tiananmen Lecture and Candlelight Vigil — Tokyo

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37th Anniversary Tiananmen Lecture and Candlelight Vigil — Tokyo — 6 of 6
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Project
ACT-016
Location
Scott Hall, Waseda Hoshi-en, Nishi-Waseda, Tokyo, Japan
Date
3 June 2026
Press
NHK NEWS WEB — 中国 天安門事件からきょうで37年 事件知らない若い世代もNHK NEWS WEB — 中国 天安門事件から37年 北京では追悼の動きなど警戒日本テレビ NEWS NNN — 天安門事件からきょうで37年 当時の学生リーダーが会見テレビ東京 WBS（ワールドビジネスサテライト）— 当日特集FNNプライムオンライン — 「天安門事件」から37年 民主化運動の学生らを軍が武力鎮圧日本経済新聞 — 香港「一国二制度」どうなった？崩れた国際的な約束事産経新聞 — 天安門事件6月4日で37年、元学生指導者が会見読売新聞 — 6月4日付・社会面毎日新聞 — 中国当局、天安門事件遺族の墓参りを初禁止か共同通信 — 天安門事件の墓参り禁止 中国当局、遺族抗議共同通信 — 天安門事件37年、追悼抑圧 中国、「負の記憶」消去Nikkei Asia — Activists struggle to keep spotlight on Tiananmen in world beset by crisesThe Epoch Times — Tiananmen Massacre Memorials Span Globe as Remembrance Is Suppressed in China, Hong KongUPI — Wu'er Kaixi warns South Koreans on North KoreaAP — A Hong Kong artist tries to mark the Tiananmen crackdown. Police quickly stopped himReporters Without Borders (RSF) — Wu'er Kaixi speaks up for journalists on the Tiananmen anniversaryCentral Tibetan Administration — Representative Dr. Tsewang Gyalpo Arya Attends 37th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Tokyo
Partners
Amnesty International Japan, Asian Democracy Forum, Democratic China Front, Chinese Democratic Alliance, Dialogue with China (Japan)

Typhoon Jangmi made landfall over Tokyo on the evening of 3 June 2026. More than 250 people came anyway.

Scott Hall at Waseda Hoshi-en — the venue that had hosted the 37th Anniversary Tiananmen Exhibition for the twelve days prior — was full. The ground-floor seats filled first; the second-floor gallery followed. A number of attendees stood throughout. Rain against the roof accompanied the opening of the programme.

The event marked the 37th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre as part of the exhibition 《記憶が罪に問われるとき》(When Memory Is Put on Trial), organized jointly by Lady Liberty Hong Kong and five partner organizations under the 天安門事件追悼実行委員会.

Fifteen speakers addressed the gathering in sequence. They included Ako Tomoko, Professor at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; Wu'er Kaixi, one of the student leaders of the 1989 democratic movement; Ariya Tsewang Gyalpo, Representative of the Office of the Dalai Lama in Japan; Tanaka Saut, Vice Chairman of the Japan Uyghur Association; Patrick Poon, Board Member of Asian Lawyers Network and HRMI East Asia Engagement Lead; calligrapher Tsengawa Atsushi; former Chinese human rights lawyer Wu Lei; and Alric Lee, Representative Director of Lady Liberty Hong Kong. Representatives of Amnesty International Japan, Human Rights Watch, and the organising committee also spoke.

At the session's close, a written statement from Chow Hang-tung was distributed and read aloud to the room.

Chow Hang-tung, former Vice-Chairperson of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, has been held in Tai Lam Correctional Institution since 2021. She is charged with incitement to subvert state power — in part for her role in organizing the June 4 candlelight vigil in Victoria Park. Her final submissions in the ongoing trial had concluded on 19 May 2026. A verdict was expected in July or August. Her detention had by then exceeded 1,700 days.

That same night, she began a 37-hour hunger strike.

From her statement:

"What the Chinese government fears most is people's refusal to forget. And what has now been added to that fear is our people's refusal to remain silent."

"That is not a trial of the Hong Kong Alliance and the defendants. That is, in essence, a trial of the conscience of millions of Hongkongers, and a trial of Hong Kong's own justice — a litmus test of how much life remains in Hong Kong's rule of law under this new era of national security laws."

"Please do not forget that behind the glamour of power and dictatorship, there is the blood of ordinary people and shattered dreams. In amnesia lies the death of democracy. They may imprison our bodies, but they cannot control our souls."

— Chow Hang-tung, 4 June 2026

The gathering and surrounding events were covered by 22 media outlets, including all five major Japanese national dailies. The Asahi Shimbun's morning edition of 4 June 2026 ran a sidebar on the Tokyo vigil in its International section, with a photograph of the candlelight gathering. NHK and the commercial broadcast networks also reported from the event. Coverage extended to international outlets including Nikkei Asia, the Epoch Times, AP, UPI, and Reporters Without Borders.

Commemoration did not end at Waseda. That week, vigils for the 37th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre took place across the globe — in cities where Hong Kong people and their allies have carried the practice after it was extinguished in Victoria Park.