Japanese hostages "got what they deserved".

[Mr. Sinister]

According to Japan

TOKYO, April 22 — The young Japanese civilians taken hostage in Iraq returned home this week, not to the warmth of a yellow-ribbon embrace but to a disapproving nation's cold stare.

Three of them, including a woman who helped street children on the streets of Baghdad, appeared on television two weeks ago as their knife-brandishing kidnappers threatened to slit their throats. A few days after their release, they landed here on Sunday, in the eye of a peculiarly Japanese storm.

"You got what you deserve!" read one hand-written sign at the airport where they landed. "You are Japan's shame," another wrote on the Web site of one of the former hostages. They had "caused trouble" for everybody. The government, not to be outdone, announced it would bill the former hostages $6,000 for air fare.

Beneath the surface of Japan's ultra-sophisticated cities lie the hierarchical ties that have governed this island nation for centuries and that, at moments of crises, invariably reassert themselves. The former hostages' transgression was to ignore a government advisory against traveling to Iraq. But their sin, in a vertical society that likes to think of itself as classless, was to defy what people call here "okami," or, literally, "what is higher."
Treated like criminals, the three former hostages have gone into hiding, effectively becoming prisoners inside their own homes. The kidnapped woman, Nahoko Takato, was last seen arriving at her parents' house, looking defeated and dazed from tranquilizers, flanked by relatives who helped her walk and bow deeply before reporters, as a final apology to the nation.

Dr. Satoru Saito, a psychiatrist who examined the three former hostages twice since their return, said the stress they were enduring now was "much heavier" than what they experienced during their captivity in Iraq. Asked to name their three most stressful moments, the former hostages told him, in ascending order: the moment when they were kidnapped on their way to Baghdad, the knife-wielding incident, and the moment they watched a television show the morning after their return here and realized Japan's anger with them.

"Let's say the knife incident, which lasted about 10 minutes, ranks 10 on a stress level," Dr. Saito said in an interview at his clinic on Thursday. "After they came back to Japan and saw the morning news show, their stress level ranked 12."
To the angry Japanese, the first three hostages — Nahoko Takato, 34, who started a nonprofit organization to help Iraqi street children; Soichiro Koriyama, 32, a freelance photographer; and Noriaki Imai, 18, a freelance writer interested in the issue of depleted uranium munitions — had acted selfishly. Two others kidnapped and released in a separate incident — Junpei Yasuda, 30, a freelance journalist, and Nobutaka Watanabe, 36, a member of an anti-war group — were equally guilty.

Pursuing individual goals by defying the government and causing trouble for Japan was simply unforgivable. But the freed hostages did get official praise from one government: the United States.

"Well, everybody should understand the risk they are taking by going into dangerous areas," said Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. "But if nobody was willing to take a risk, then we would never move forward. We would never move our world forward.

"And so I'm pleased that these Japanese citizens were willing to put themselves at risk for a greater good, for a better purpose. And the Japanese people should be very proud that they have citizens like this willing to do that."

In contrast, Yasuo Fukuda, the Japanese government's spokesman offered this about the captives' ordeal: "They may have gone on their own but they must consider how many people they caused trouble to because of their action."

The criticism began almost immediately after the first three civilians were kidnapped two weeks ago. The environment minister, Yuriko Koike, blamed them for being "reckless."

After the hostages' families asked that the government yield to the kidnappers' demand and withdraw its 550 troops from southern Iraq, they began receiving hate mail and harassing faxes and e-mail messages. The Japanese, like the villagers in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," had to throw stones.

Even as the kidnappers were still threatening to burn alive the three hostages, Yukio Takeuchi, an official in the Foreign Ministry, said of the three, "When it comes to a matter of safety and life, I would like them to be aware of the basic principle of personal responsibility."

The Foreign Ministry, held both in awe and resentment by many Japanese, was the okami defied in this case. While Foreign Ministry officials are Japan's super elite, the average Japanese tends to regard them as arrogant and unhelpful, recalling how they failed to deliver in time the declaration of war against the United States in 1941 so that Japan became forever known as a sneak-attack nation.

Defying the okami are young Japanese people like the freed hostages, freelancers and members of nonprofit organizations, who are traditionally held in low esteem in a country where the bigger one's company, the bigger one's social rank. They also belong to a generation in which many have rejected traditional Japanese life. Many have gravitated instead to places like the East Village in Manhattan, looking for something undefined.

Others have gone to Iraq looking to report the true story, since Japan's big media outlets have generally avoided dangerous places. (Almost all of them left Iraq over the last week on a government-chartered plane, leaving Japan's most important military mission since the end of World War II essentially ignored by the news media.)

Mr. Yasuda — who was in the second group of hostages and also described the stress of his return as far greater than what he felt during his captivity in Iraq — quit his position as a staff reporter at a regional newspaper to report as a freelancer in Iraq.

"We have to check ourselves what the Japanese government is doing in Iraq," Mr. Yasuda said during an interview Thursday night. "This is the responsibility on the part of Japanese citizens, but it seems as if people are leaving everything up to the government."

The okami reacted with fury at such defiance. Some politicians proposed a law barring Japanese from traveling to dangerous countries; even more of them said that the hostages should pay the costs incurred by the government in securing their release.

"This is an idea that should be considered," The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's biggest daily newspaper, said in an editorial. "Such an act might deter other reckless, self-righteous volunteers."

When two freed hostages mentioned wanting to stay or return to Iraq to continue their work, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi angrily urged them "to have some sense."

"Many government officials made efforts to rescue them, without even eating and sleeping, and they are still saying that sort of thing?" he said.

The comment was revealing, one that would not likely be heard from the United States government. Here, the government is now trumpeting "personal responsibility" for those going to dangerous areas — essentially saying that travelers shouldn't expect any help from the government to secure their safety or get out of trouble.

Again, no Japanese politician dared to speak out against this idea.

Indeed, Mr. Koizumi's handling of the hostage crisis translated into positive evaluations in public opinion polls, and the issue diverted attention from Iraq's worsening security situation and the fact that Japan's troops, according to this country's war-renouncing Constitution, are supposed to be in a noncombat zone.

Grasping Japan's attitude toward them, the hostages found themselves under crushing pressure, Dr. Saito said.

According to him, Mr. Imai, the 18-year-old former hostage, registered a high blood pressure reading. Ms. Takato, who had a pulse rate of over 120 beats per minute, kept bursting into tears. When the doctor told her she had done good work in Iraq, she cried convulsively and said, "But I've done wrong, haven't I?"

On Tuesday, Ms. Takato used the tranquilizers Dr. Saito gave her and finally left Tokyo for her hometown in Hokkaido. Ms. Takato, the news media reported, expressed fear about returning to her family home, but she may as well have been talking about returning to Japan. "I feel like going back home quickly, but I'm also afraid of going home."

[Howedar]

What the fuck?

[Joe]

That's just fucked up. Totally and utterly fucked up.

[Glocksman]

Apparently in Japan it's considered gauche to question or disobey a government official.

[Sharp-kun]

I can kind of see why. The government did tell all civilians to stay out of Iraq, and I read in the Telegraph that at least one of the hostages after he was released announced that he was staying in Iraq, despite the wishes of his parents and the government. They caused a ot of trouble, and some have said that they would quite happily do it all again.

[Sharp-kun]

Dman. Accidentally deleted the last sentence:

I consider a lot of what they're going through to be too harsh. They did fuck up and they did cause a lot of trouble, though very few people deserve that.

[The Kernel]

No matter how well we might think we understand Japanese culture or how much we think they've changed since feudal WWII Japan, little things like this invariably escape our attention.

Although I think this is utterly and completely fucked up, I think this is analogous to some of the United States' remaining biblical law. Arresting people for posession of vibrators probably seems as fucked up to the rest of the world as this thing does to us.

I won't apologize for the Japanese though--they cling to these sorts of traditions because of their fierce cultural pride which they accept at the expense of more secular laws. I can't imagine the logic they use to rationalize treating human beings this way, but they are hardly unique in this.

[Admiral Valdemar]

No matter how well we might think we understand Japanese culture or how much we think they've changed since feudal WWII Japan, little things like this invariably escape our attention.

Although I think this is utterly and completely fucked up, I think this is analogous to some of the United States' remaining biblical law. Arresting people for posession of vibrators probably seems as fucked up to the rest of the world as this thing does to us.

I won't apologize for the Japanese though--they cling to these sorts of traditions because of their fierce cultural pride which they accept at the expense of more secular laws. I can't imagine the logic they use to rationalize treating human beings this way, but they are hardly unique in this.

The whole feudal system brought about honour as a commodity some have and others squander. You make yourself to be dishonourable or go against a code be it a gov't law or etiquette and you're frowned upon.

That's how I always saw it.

[salm]

does anyone know what exactly they were doing in iraq? if they were reporters or helping to rebuild i don´t blame them, afterall they would have been doing their jobs. if they were there without being necessary there they are fucking dumbasses. similar to these german tourists who let themselves get captured in algeria despite the government travel warnings. people like that cause trouble and are expensive.

[Dahak]

Well, Germans could relate to that, a bit at least.
When we had this hostage situation in Afrcia, they government did help them. But the public feeling was that they *did* bring it onto themselves, and if they'd listened to the government could've avoided it.
They were then charged with parts of the costs for their rescue.

But the Japanese also have this huge honor concept going, besides this hierarchic social structure (as in Germany).

[Sharp-kun]

does anyone know what exactly they were doing in iraq? if they were reporters or helping to rebuild i don´t blame them, afterall they would have been doing their jobs. if they were there without being necessary there they are fucking dumbasses. similar to these german tourists who let themselves get captured in algeria despite the government travel warnings. people like that cause trouble and are expensive.

I think one was an aid worker, one was researching the effects of depleted uranium, and the other was a reporter for some magazine. I would say that makes 1 reasonably necesary, and the other 2 had no real reason to be there.


At least one said that he was going back to Iraq after his release, something his family responded to by saying that if he was captured again, they wouldn't be campaigning for his release again.

[General Zod]

While i think this is very messed up, you have to remember that the Japanese are very concerned about Face, or keeping up appearances. So the civilians going somewhere that they were told not to and making an international incident out of it (so to speak), wound up causing Japan a great deal of embarrassment. I don't agree with the treatment they're getting, but i can see why it's happening.

[salm]

While i think this is very messed up, you have to remember that the Japanese are very concerned about Face, or keeping up appearances. So the civilians going somewhere that they were told not to and making an international incident out of it (so to speak), wound up causing Japan a great deal of embarrassment. I don't agree with the treatment they're getting, but i can see why it's happening.

if this is the case they´ve got it the wrong way round. i think even more people will frown upon them if they treat the ex hostages badly.

[consequences]

There is also much less attachment to the value of an indiviual life in most Asian cultures. The fact that the families asked the government to change its policies based on the lives of a few was a massive breach of the unwritten rules, and also a horrible face costing thing as far as the Japanese would be concerned.

[General Zod]

While i think this is very messed up, you have to remember that the Japanese are very concerned about Face, or keeping up appearances. So the civilians going somewhere that they were told not to and making an international incident out of it (so to speak), wound up causing Japan a great deal of embarrassment. I don't agree with the treatment they're getting, but i can see why it's happening.

if this is the case they´ve got it the wrong way round. i think even more people will frown upon them if they treat the ex hostages badly.

The hostages have already created quite a stir, so people probably already look on them badly for screwing things up. Treating them more badly won't change public viewpoint that much, i don't think.

[PainRack]

Actually, there's another reason.


Virtually all of the japanese hostages involved, were against the war, and members of the Japanese government, concerned over the "non" Islamic content of their videos, is convinced that the entire hostage crisis was a farce, cooked up by them in order to convince Japan to withdraw from Iraq.

Beyond belief? Quite. But then, that what you get when you mix a war-protester, a pacificist and a Baghdad human shield together.

[Joe]

Virtually all of the japanese hostages involved, were against the war, and members of the Japanese government, concerned over the "non" Islamic content of their videos, is convinced that the entire hostage crisis was a farce, cooked up by them in order to convince Japan to withdraw from Iraq.

It certainly is an odd mix but the video sure looked real to me.

[Shinova]

Japan is a really fascinating place. So ultra-high tech and with aspirations to go even further in that line, yet still clinging to centuries-old traditions and mindsets. It's like a paradox that works.

[PainRack]

It certainly is an odd mix but the video sure looked real to me.

What say you that this whole farce is actually a massive cover-up and disinformation campaign by the Jap government, trying to swing public opinion towards the war in Iraq?

[Joe]

It certainly is an odd mix but the video sure looked real to me.

What say you that this whole farce is actually a massive cover-up and disinformation campaign by the Jap government, trying to swing public opinion towards the war in Iraq?

That's even more tinfoilish.

[Admiral Valdemar]

It certainly is an odd mix but the video sure looked real to me.

What say you that this whole farce is actually a massive cover-up and disinformation campaign by the Jap government, trying to swing public opinion towards the war in Iraq?

That's even more tinfoilish.

Like a broken watch, even the quacks can be right every so often, sheer probability.

Not saying this is the case, but I wouldn't put it past some groups to pull weird stuff off like this.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Japanese culture is fucked up.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Well, Germans could relate to that, a bit at least.
When we had this hostage situation in Afrcia, they government did help them. But the public feeling was that they *did* bring it onto themselves, and if they'd listened to the government could've avoided it.
They were then charged with parts of the costs for their rescue.

But the Japanese also have this huge honor concept going, besides this hierarchic social structure (as in Germany).

That's fucking sick.

Its akin to charging a kidnapped woman the price of a hostage rescue because she was walking in a shitty part of town against some advisory.

Ugh. We recognize just who is the actual victim here anyway.

[h0rus]

This is confusing. I need more info on those kidnapped people.

[salm]

Well, Germans could relate to that, a bit at least.
When we had this hostage situation in Afrcia, they government did help them. But the public feeling was that they *did* bring it onto themselves, and if they'd listened to the government could've avoided it.
They were then charged with parts of the costs for their rescue.

But the Japanese also have this huge honor concept going, besides this hierarchic social structure (as in Germany).

That's fucking sick.

Its akin to charging a kidnapped woman the price of a hostage rescue because she was walking in a shitty part of town against some advisory.

Ugh. We recognize just who is the actual victim here anyway.

no it´s not. the shitty part of town is territory of the nation the woman lives in. the government has to see to that it is safe. in other countries the governmant can not be held responsible for safty. if the government thinks it´s too dangeroud to go there they give out warnings. of course they can´t keep you from going there anyway, but if you´re dumb enough to go to a dangerous country without a sufficient necessary reason you need to pay for the rescue if something happens.
just like going skiing. no one will keep you from going skiing, but you have to pay the helicopter if you break your leg (it´s worth every cent though ).