対米全面テロ

麻薬常習者と左翼暴力革命主義者

イラク人質日本人三人の正体

今井少年は共産党家族に育つ

高遠菜穂子は 　 イラクのテロリストと以前から親交

郡山は 　 単なる売名奴

ストレート・タイムス（シンガポール）




Drug addict and leftists
The truth about the three Japanese hostages in Iraq

Since telling officials they wanted to continue their activities in Iraq, the three Japanese hostages who were freed last month have been getting a roasting at home. Their backgrounds have been dissected and they have been accused of being anti-government. They were even said to be totally undeserving of the money spent on them. Japan correspondent Kwan Weng Kin reports



Student activist Noriaki Imai
Teen comes from family of communists
TOKYO

THE Imai family home in Sapporo, Hokkaido, is said to be notorious for being a gathering place for local communist sympathisers and peace activists.


A chance meeting in March with volunteer worker Nahoko Takato, who invited him to accompany her to Baghdad, strengthened his resolve.

They reportedly opposed Japan's deployment of troops in Iraq, a position shared by the communists.

Even if their kidnap was not staged, the government is apparently vexed that communists and leftists could have tried to exploit the crisis to pressure it into withdrawing its troops.

It is yet unclear why Mr Imai's family agreed to let him leave for Iraq despite the obvious dangers.

This autumn, he is due to go to Bradford University in Britain to study conflict resolution and other peace-related subjects.





Volunteer worker Nahoko Takato
Woman hostage had past contact with terrorists
TOKYO

MS NAHOKO Takato puffed cigarettes at 12, sniffed paint thinner at 13 and by 15, she had started smoking marijuana.


Convinced her mission in life was to help the poor, Ms Takato went to Iraq with funding from leftists.
The 34-year-old was the only woman among the three Japanese captured by Iraqi militants near Fallujah last month and released a week later.

Ms Takato, who was kidnapped while on her way to Baghdad to resume her work of caring for homeless Iraqi teenagers and weaning them off drugs, was a high school delinquent and addict herself.

In a book she published in 2002, she admitted to having been on drugs.

After graduating from university, she worked in Tokyo as an office lady, but returned after a year to her native Chitose city in Hokkaido.

Although she had no steady income of her own, she was able to indulge in habitual drinking, thanks to the family fortune.

But she drew little public sympathy after she was kidnapped.

She was called 'Japan's shame' on the Internet. Her parents got anonymous postcards saying she and the other hostages 'deserved what they got'.


In particular, Ms Takato earned the wrath of politicians and officials, many of whom suspected the whole abduction was faked.

The woman, it was said, had previous contact with Iraqi terrorists, including the Saraya al-Mujahideen group which claimed to be the captors.

She also incensed many Japanese,
Since coming back to Japan, she has remained at home trying to get over her ordeal.

Crushed by the force of public opinion, Ms Takato is being shielded by her family, who have sworn never to let her go off to Iraq again.

But unless she appears personally before the media to apologise, she is unlikely to be forgiven.

Straight after Ms Takato's release, her brother Shuichi told her on his cellphone: 'You must say gomen nasai (I beg your pardon) 100 times to the whole world.'

Even if the public is happy with that, it may not satisfy Mr Koizumi and his doubting mandarins.




Photojournalist Soichiro Koriyama
Ex-army man wanted to make a name for himself in Iraq
TOKYO