"We find it hard to understand why he traveled to Iraq because he should have known the danger well as the ministry has repeatedly warned citizens not to visit Iraq."
Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, on Japanese hostage Shosei Koda (Kyodo)
I find the Japanese atttiudes to these Iraqi kidnappings perplexing. In an earlier post, I discussed how the media was blaming the first set of hostages for troubling the governement and their loved ones by facing danger in Iraq, no matter the reaosn. In that first group, there were two journalists and a volunteer. In the end, the government charged them for their return airfare to Japan.
The case of the latest hostage, who seems to have been looking adventure by traveling, is a bit different, but blaming the vicitim first is something I have trouble getting my head around. True, he shouldn't have been there, but it's the terrorist who have created the situation and they are the people who should be blamed. I think the Japanese have an obsession with safety as I mentioned in an earlier post, which may be why people are so hard on this particualr traveler, who should have known better than to leave safe Japan for a war zone.
Comments