Dalai Lama on tour as Tibet protests multiply

The Dalai Lama arrived in Japan today on his way to the United States, amid protests around the world over China’s handling of unrest in his native Tibet.

The Buddhist spiritual leader arrived at Tokyo’s main international airport and was quickly escorted to a nearby hotel.

He was to hold a news conference later in the day before travelling on to Seattle, where he was scheduled to give a lecture.

Protests have been held in cities around the world in a show of sympathy for Tibet, where anti-government riots erupted last month.

Chinese authorities, concerned about unrest ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing, have tightly restricted access to Tibet and Tibetan areas of western China where protests also broke out.

The sometimes violent anti-government demonstrations were the largest among Tibetans in almost two decades.

The Dalai Lama, whom Beijing claims has fomented the unrest, has called for calm, but the protests have shown little sign of abating.

Japan’s government has been relatively quiet about the violence in Tibet and, out of deference to Beijing, does not deal officially with the Dalai Lama.

Tokyo does, however, grant visas to the spiritual leader, who has visited Japan fairly frequently. Buddhism is one of Japan’s main religions, along with the indigenous Shinto faith.

No meetings were planned between the Dalai Lama and government officials although Japanese media said the wife of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would meet with him.