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Japanese hostages freed in Iraq have been billed for plane tickets home Tokyo-AP -- It's been anything but a heroes' welcome for two Japanese aid workers and a photojournalist who were held hostage for a week in Iraq. Not only did they receive a chilly welcome home, a Japanese official says the three have been billed 21-thousand-dollars for their plane tickets home and other expenses.They were accused of behaving recklessly for going to a country that Japan has repeatedly warned residents to avoid.A government official says the three are being treated the same as other Japanese civilians who get in...

Almost unnoticed by the American press, the aftermath of Japan’s hostage crisis in Iraq is developing in a direction which may have permanent and serious positive implications for American foreign and military policies. Prime Minister Koizumi’s response to the kidnapping of the first three Japanese taken hostage in Iraq marked a watershed in Japan’s posture for dealing with external threats. Prime Minister Koizumi simply refused to “go Spanish” in the face of terror threats against his citizens. As the Wall Street Journal notes (link requires subscription), Japan had previously embraced the notion that the lives of hostages must be paramount....

TOKYO - The Japanese government was investigating a news report that two more Japanese had been abducted in Iraq (news - web sites), an official said Thursday. The Kyodo News service report said an unidentified Japanese organization had received an e-mail saying the two were abducted Wednesday. The Japanese were possibly on their way to cover the emergency landing of a U.S. military helicopter in a southern Baghdad suburb, the report said, suggesting they were journalists. A foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government was looking into the report but had not confirmed the reported abduction....

Breaking - in Japanese...Kyodo News. Reports that two more Japanese may well have been taken hostage by terrorists in Iraq. Reported to have happened to a person named "Yasuda Junpei" and a person named "Watanabe". Said they were NGO (non governmental organization) employees in Iraq. Appears to be, if true, that one is Junpei Yasuda, a Japanese photojournalist.Reports were that two of them were near the site of a downed US helicopter. After taking some photos, it was reported their vehicle was stopped. An email claiming they are in enemy custody has just come in. Local eyewitness in the area...

TOKYO, April 13 (Reuters) - Japan has not verified the facts about the fate of three Japanese civilians taken captive in Iraq, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said on Tuesday. Fukuda told a news conference that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had told the cabinet it was not possible to prejudge the situation, given a variety of information. Fukuda added that Japan was making every effort for the rescue of the three hostages, but that it was not possible for the government to give a detailed explanation of the situation.

We'll kill hostages, one by one, rebels vow By Paul McGeough, Chief Herald Correspondent in Baghdad April 12, 2004 - 1:21AM Anguish ... Ayako Inoue, left, weeps with other relatives of the three Japanese hostages, below. Photo: Reuters/Eriko Sugito One of the three Japanese being held hostage in Iraq will be executed at an unspecified time today - and the other two within 12 hours - unless Tokyo agrees to new demands, says an Iraqi go-between who claims to have seen them alive yesterday.False hopes for the safety of the three were raised earlier when word spread from the Middle...

TOKYO, April 12 (Reuters) - Japan has put three C-130 transport planes on stand-by in Kuwait so it could use them to airlift three Japanese civilians kidnapped in Iraq, a Japanese Defence Ministry source said on Monday. "We are putting on stand-by three C-130 transport planes that are in Kuwait now," a Defence Ministry source told Reuters. He said the Japanese air force planes could be used to evacuate the three Japanese hostages as well as other Japanese nationals who would need the government's help to flee the war-torn country. Japan was stunned and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was confronted...

no other details breaking....

Being reported on the norning broadcast on Sky.

DUBAI (Reuters) - The Arabic television station Al Jazeera has denied a Japanese news agency report which quoted it as saying that three Japanese hostages held in Iraq had been released. "We did not issue such a report," an Al Jazeera official told Reuters, referring to a report by Jiji news agency. Japanese TV earlier said the three Japanese civilians kidnapped in Iraq were safe near the Iraqi town of Falluja, but government officials could not confirm the report and it was unclear when they would be released. Al Jazeera said on Saturday that Iraqi militants holding the hostages would...

Breaking. Sorry, its just a quick English synopsis of the Japanese news (link).Chunichi News in Japan (Nagoya daily newspaper) is reporting from Middle East sources that one of the Japanese *hostages* taken by a new Islamic terrorist group two days ago, MS. NAHOKO TAKATO, is reported to have made contact in Baghdad recently, before the kidnapping of her and two other Japanese, with an affiliate terrorist organization "Army of Muhammand". The casts in some doubt the actual situation surrounding this Islamic terrorist "kidnapping" the other day and the subsequent demands that Japan withdraw its Self Defense forces from Iraq in...

Al Jazeera: Japaneese hostages to be freed within 24 hours. Reuters quoting Al Jazeera. More to come.

A senior Japanese official headed emergency meetings in Amman, Jordan, yesterday to co-ordinate efforts to rescue three nationals kidnapped in Iraq. Their abductors have threatened to burn the three alive if Japan does not pull its troops out by a deadline today. Senior Vice-Foreign Minister Ichiro Aisawa said no effort would be spared by Tokyo to free the hostages, who were snatched by a previously unknown Iraqi group. Diplomats said Mr Aisawa entered back-to-back meetings with a 10-strong emergency taskforce of senior Japanese diplomats and security officials. He would not say whether any contact had been made with the hostage-takers....

KUWAIT, April 10 (Reuters) - A Kuwait-based aide to Iraq's top Shi'ite religious leader, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, denounced the kidnapping of three Japanese citizens as a "terrorist" act and demanded their immediate release. A hitherto unknown group in Iraq on Thursday released a video showing what it said were three Japanese hostages including a woman, blindfolded and with a gun to their heads, and vowed to "burn them alive" if Japanese troops did not leave Iraq within three days. "We demand those kidnappers to set them free immediately for the sake of Iraq's interests. Islam is free of such terrorist...

OKYO, April 10 (Reuters) - Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi appealed on Saturday for the release of three Japanese hostages in Iraq as protesters called for Tokyo to withdraw its troops to save the captives' lives. "The three Japanese hostages are private individuals, and friends of Iraq...The people of Japan and I strongly demand for an immediate and safe release of the three hostages," he said. The video message comes with less than 24 hours to go until a deadline set by the kidnappers, who have threatened to burn the hostages alive if Japanese troops do not pull out of...

TOKYO — Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is not meeting the families of the three Japanese civilian hostages in Iraq, though the families are seeking such a meeting, a source close to the families said Saturday, quoting a Foreign Ministry official. "There will be nothing to talk about," the premier said, in explaining his reasons for refusing to meet with them. Koizumi has clearly stated he is not withdrawing the more than 500 troops engaged in humanitarian and reconstruction assistance in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah. (Kyodo News)

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan issued a videotaped demand on Saturday for the release of three Japanese hostages in Iraq (news - web sites), with less than 24 hours to go before a deadline set by the kidnappers for Japanese troops to leave Iraq to save the captives' lives. "To the members of Saraya al-Mujahideen, who have taken three Japanese hostage," Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said in the footage, which was to be distributed to TV broadcasters around the world on Saturday, including in an Arabic version. "The people of Japan and I strongly demand an immediate and safe release...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military paused Friday in its offensive against insurgents in Fallujah to allow for talks with city leaders and humanitarian aid to enter the city, U.S. administrator in Iraq L. Paul Bremer said, although there were reports of sporadic fighting.A senior U.S. military source said that the suspension of the offensive in the Sunni Triangle city of Fallujah allowed residents to take care of their wounded and bury their dead.But after the troops paused in the fighting, Marine commanders told troops they could resume offensive operations after forces on the ground complained of being attacked,...

Japan is refusing to withdraw troops from Iraq despite the death threats hanging over three of its citizens. The families of the three Japanese have pleaded with their government to give in to the demands of the Iraqi kidnappers and pull out of Iraq. The Iraqi insurgents have threatened to burn the hostages alive unless Japan withdraws its forces within three days. But Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said: "We should not give in to these despicable threats." Japan has been stunned by video footage showing the three hostages blindfolded, and with a gun to their heads. Photos and profiles...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)--A senior aide to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr denied on Friday that the religious leader's militia was involved in the kidnapping of three Japanese and threats to burn them alive. On Thursday, a video was released showing the three--two aid workers and a photojournalist--surrounded by gunmen in the black garb typical of al-Sadr's militiamen. The three were seized in southern Iraq, where the Shiite cleric's militia, the al-Mahdi Army, has been fighting coalition forces. The captors said the three would be burned alive if Japan did not agree to pull its 530 non-combat troops out of...

With the capture of three Japanese civilians in Iraq by a group calling itself the “Mujahideen Brigades”, the thirteenth issue of al-Qaeda’s online publication, Sawt Al-Jihad, takes on new relevance. In the following translation of one of the articles in the magazine, an individual calling himself Mohmmad Bin Ahmad Salem notifying the mujahideen of the Japanese military presence in Kuwait, and exhorting them to “Fight for God, and be mobilized for the Jihad, individually as well as in groups.” The full translation of the article is below. SAWT AL JIHAD – Issue No. 13, 03-29-04 People of Kuwait... by Mohmmad...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Heartsick families of three Japanese kidnapped in Iraq gathered in Tokyo on Friday to beg the government to do whatever it takes to bring them safely home, including withdrawing troops from Iraq. The kidnappers, from a previously unknown Iraqi group, have vowed to burn the hostages alive if the roughly 550 Japanese troops based in southern Iraq do not leave within three days. Looking pale and tense, relatives of the three -- 18-year-old Noriaki Imai, who graduated from high school last month, aid worker Nahoko Takato, 34, and freelance photojournalist Soichiro Koriyama, 32 -- met Foreign Minister...

The Iraqi kidnappers of three Japanese civilians have launched another front in the War on Terror: a battle for the soul of Japan. Prime Minister Koizumi has resolutely ruled-out capitulation to the demand that Japan withdraw its Self Defence Force [army] contingent deployed to Samawah. But the Japanese people are far from united in the spirit of defiance. Social Democratic Party leader Muzuho Fukushima told reporters Friday: "I thought there was a possibility of such an incident occurring, and now such an incident has happened. The government should withdraw the SDF from Iraq. We'd like to urge other ruling parties...

<p>TOKYO — Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (search) denounced threats that three Japanese captives in Iraq (search) would be burned alive as "cowardly" and vowed Friday that Japan's troops would stay in the country, despite tearful pleas from the families of the victims.</p> <p>Television networks repeatedly aired dramatic video of the captives -- two aid workers Noriaki Imai, 18, and Nahoko Takato, 34, and photojournalist Soichiro Koriyama, 32.</p>

This story is just beginning to break, but the so-called Japanese hostages may actually be a staged event by leftist Japanese anti-war protesters operating inside Iraq. Read the following post from the LittleGreenFootballs.com website and be sure to follow the links. #8 zombie 4/9/2004 12:32AM PST I emailed this to Charles but it's worth posting here too: Many new and (potentially) extremely disturbing and ironic details have emerged on the Japanese-kidnapped-in-Iraq situation. Firstly, and most importantly, is the post by A Japanese Reader (#102 in this earlier LGF thread.) The second is Allah's postings of the victims in captivity and...

Fri 9 Apr 2004 12:32am (UK) Leave Iraq Or We'll Burn Hostages Alive, Kidnappers Tell Japan "PA" Rebel fighters terrorised and threatened to burn alive three Japanese civilians unless their country agreed to pull its troops out of Iraq, in a video shown to the world. The rebels armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, held knives to the throats of the Japanese, who screamed in terror on the video, released yesterday, and said they would burn them in three days. The kidnappers shouted: “Allahu akbar” – God is great. But Japan’s government said it has no plans to pull...

David Lee Miller on FoxNews reporting that 3 Japanese coalition soldiers may have been captured by the insurrectionists. Claim is from al-Jazeera. No independent confirmation.

Photos off Al- Jezeera of the captured Koreans and Japanese. Not graphic but show Islamic brutality Thu Apr 8, 9:18 AM ET Japanese civilian detainees are seen at an undisclosed location in this image made from video released Thursday, April 8, 2004. The captives were identified as Noriaki Imai, Soichiro Koriyana and Nahoko Takato. Eight South Koreans and three Japanese were kidnapped Thursday by insurgents in Iraq (news - web sites), and captors armed with automatic rifles and swords threatened to burn the Japanese alive if Tokyo did not withdraw from the U.S.-led coalition. Associated Press Television News obtained a...

This is LONDON 08/04/04 - News and city section 'We will burn them alive' An Iraqi group has kidnapped three Japanese hostages, including one woman, and promised to burn them alive if Japan does not withdraw its forces from Iraq. Al Jazeera television screened a video today showing three Japanese dressed in civilian clothes. They are believed to be two journalists and an aid worker The television said a statement by the hitherto unknown Iraqi group called Saraya al-Mujahideen had given Japan three days from the airing of the video to withdraw its troops from Iraq before it killed the...

Discovered, just now, on the internet in Japanese, and translated by Freeper “AmericanInTokyo”. This is the last e-mail dispatch (yesterday) in Japanese by Mr. Imai, who is reported to have been taken hostage and threatened with death by terrorists in Iraq, along with (2) other young Japanese. The writings are on a Japanese language website that gives strong indication that the kidnapped Mr. Noriaki Imai was connected to an anti-American, pro-peace activist group in Japan, with activities centering on "DU" (depleted uranium) and the US mission in Iraq. To readers in Japan, he makes reference to his dangerous travel yesterday...

<p>Also, Iranian TV is airing footage of two Arab residents of Jerusalem, reportedly kidnapped in Iraq, and the British government is hunting down a citizen who has been missing since Monday.</p> <p>The Arabic-language news channel Al-Jazeera Thursday aired video showing three kidnapped Japanese citizens in Iraq.</p>