Suu Kyi visits Japan for the first time in 27 years

Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to Myanmarese living in Japan and her supporters during a meeting in Tokyo, Saturday, April 13, 2013. Dozens of flag-waving well-wishers, including people from Myanmar, welcomed Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who arrived Saturday for a weeklong visit to Japan. <AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama>

Nobel laureate and Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was greeted by dozens of flag-waving well-wishers, including people from her home country, as she arrived in Japan on Saturday for a weeklong visit.

She later met with other people from Myanmar, packing a Tokyo hall, and answered their questions with smiles.

During her visit, Suu Kyi is expected to drum up aid for Myanmar in meetings with Japanese government officials.

Suu Kyi is widely respected in Japan, a place that holds special feelings for the lawmaker and National League for Democracy party leader, who endured nearly two decades of house arrest, because of her historical ties to Japan.

She is scheduled to go to Kyoto in central Japan, where she studied at a university nearly three decades ago. Her father, independence hero Gen. Aung San, also spent some time in Japan in the 1940s.

Wearing her trademark flowers in her hair, Suu Kyi has been thronged by Japanese media. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner was set to give speeches at prestigious universities in Kyoto and Tokyo.

Suu Kyi had expressed an interest in visiting Japan during the current cherry-blossom season, but because of unusually warm weather, the petals are mostly gone. She leaves Friday. <AP/NEWSis>