Self-exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra wants to visit Japan in late August, a senior Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) lawmaker said yesterday.

Hajime Ishii, DPJ vice president, met Prime Minister Naoto Kan and asked him to allow Thaksin’s entry into Japan, the lawmaker told reporters.

Thaksin, who served as Thai premier from 2001 to 2006 before he was toppled in a September 2006 coup, has been living in self exile since 2008 to avoid a two-year sentence on an abuse-of-power conviction.

Read more: The Nation