One Japanese hostage killed, another still held by ISIS. Yahoo/Reuters

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Yahoo/Reuters. 

Japan is condemning the apparent killing of one of two Japanese hostages held by ISIS. Yahoo/Reuters. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seemed to confirm that a video tape released by ISIS showing a decapitated victim was Haruna Yukawa. Abe called for the release of the second hostage, Kenji Goto, who appeared alive in the video. ISIS has dropped their $200 million ransom demand for Goto and now are demanding the release of a Iraqi held in Jordan named Sajida al-Rishawi. Both Yukawa's and Goto's family begged for Goto's release. Although Japan has paid ransoms for hostages in the past, they now reject negotiating with terrorists. Their pacifist constitution also prevents any direct military action. 

My Comment:

I was really hoping that there would have been some kind of solution for Yukawa and Goto. It was extremely unlikely anyways, even if Japan had paid the ransom. I wonder if Yukawa resisted his captors. I didn't watch the video but from what I understand all they had was a still image of his body. In the past ISIS has tapped the entire execution. Perhaps he fought back or didn't read a statement for them? Yukawa was many things but he did at least have some quasi-military experience. I'd like to think he didn't cooperate. 

As for Japan, it will be interesting to see how they react to this. As far as I know this is the first time a citizen of theirs has been specifically targeted by Islamic terrorism. I am sure they have lost people to terrorists before, but more because they were "collateral damage" and not a specific target of an attack. Japan has been moving away from their pacifism for awhile now, and I wonder if this won't be another push in that direction. China and North Korea are their biggest concern, but being unable to do anything to avenge the death of one of their citizens can't sit well with them.  

I personally wouldn't mind if Japan joined the world in attacking ISIS. They are a global threat to everyone. If Japan is a target then everyone is. They had only a tangential relationship to the war in Iraq and Syria and have never really gotten into a fight with Islamists before. They did deploy some troops to Iraq and the anti-piracy operations in Syria, but they weren't really involved in combat. The only real threat to ISIS is the $200 million in humanitarian aid. Apparently, helping people is enough to get on the bad side of ISIS.