STORY: Finally back home in Japan. Filmmaker Toro Kubota was imprisoned in Myanmar for three and a half months. The authorities of the military regime had sentenced him to 10 years in prison for violating the Immigration and Communications Law and for incitement. On Thursday, Kubota was released as part of a mass amnesty. “I was only able to be released so quickly thanks to the efforts of all my supporters in Japan, the media that reported my arrest, and the government that has consistently worked to secure my release,” Kubota said upon arrival in Tokyo. In addition to the Japanese filmmaker, almost 6,000 prisoners were released in Myanmar on Thursday. The pardons were granted because of a national holiday, the independent news service Myanmar Now quoted the military leadership as saying. Sean Turnell, an Australian economist and former adviser to de facto ousted Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi, and Vicky Bowman, a former British envoy, were also released. It remained unclear whether there were other political prisoners among the released prisoners. Officially there are no political prisoners in Myanmar, according to human rights activists there are dozens.