TOKYO—One is a freelance journalist respected for his reporting on refugees and children in war zones. The other is a man who seems obsessed with guns and went to Syria to train with fighters.
Despite their differing backgrounds and passions, their paths had crossed before. Now, in a chilling video released this week, the two Japanese men were seen kneeling on the ground in orange jumpsuits with a masked, knife-wielding figure threatening to kill them if their government failed to pay a $200 million ransom by Friday.
Kenji Goto, the journalist, and Haruna Yukawa are in some ways outliers in Japan, a relatively risk-averse society. Their capture by the Islamic State group, the militants who have seized part of Syria and Iraq, has created a sudden crisis for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose government is working feverishly to try to free them.
