TV screen. Afghan boys smile at Mr Nagai's camera in December 2001. He asked they what they wanted, and they replied "Wheat. We want some wheat."
I remember his report had many smiling faces of the local children.
About Mr Kenji Nagai:
www.flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1451789581/
TV screen. Mr Nagai in Baghdad, Iraq, in the year 2003. He said he was afraid the fighting would quickly spread all across the capital, which sadly came true.
About Mr Kenji Nagai:
www.flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1451789581/
On the picture is Mr Nagai's motto: "Someone has to go to a place where noone dares not go. Someone has to witness and tell."
TV screen. An archive footage of Mr Nagai's report from Iraq. Here he is showing shoes - a small one and a large one - he picked up from under the rubbles.
About Mr Kenji Nagai:
www.flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1451789581/
Off TV screen. Collage. See notes after clicking on the picture. Archive footages of Mr Nagai's reports from Iraq. These are what he's been doing.
About Mr Kenji Nagai:
www.flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1451789581/
--
ALSO read an excellent AFP article on 28 September 2007:
www.abs-cbnnews.com/story_page/tabid/55/cat/world/news/36...
QUOTE:
Slain Japanese journalist passionate for world hotspots
Agence France Presse
... With a shaggy head of hair and professorial glasses, Nagai was employed by APF News, a small agency based in Tokyo that specialises in reports from countries where most Japanese television networks dare not tread.
Nagai's motto was "someone's got to visit places that no one else will," said Toru Yamaji, the president and founder of APF News.
Photographs published in Japanese newspapers Friday showed Nagai shaking hands with the top brass of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas at their Syrian base and sitting for a haircut in Amman on his way into Iraq.
Hailing from a quiet town in Shikoku, the smallest of Japan's four main islands, Nagai went to the United States to learn English after university and then started roaming the world, first as a writer and then with video cameras.
...
Nagai was in Bangkok on a separate assignment when Yamaji called him. He jumped at the chance to go to Myanmar and arrived Tuesday, with at least one of his reports already broadcast on Japanese television.
Nagai felt a passion inside him to cover humanitarian suffering, his colleagues said.
Jiro Ishimaru, the chief editor of Asia Press International, a Tokyo-based cooperative of Asian photo and video journalists, said he first met Yamaji [sic] five years ago at the border between China and North Korea.
Nagai, who also produced documentary films, spent extended stretches of time with North Koreans who risked their lives by defecting from the secretive state, Ishimaru said.
"He was interviewing them very closely and carefully, taking substantial time," Ishimaru told Agence France Presse.
"He was the type of a journalist who went to places that no one goes to, like some forbidden areas of North Korea where he had to go secretly," he said.
"He was a rather quiet type and was very well received by his interviewees. I think he was driven by his desire to do something that others aren't doing."
While much of mainstream Japanese media stay away from combat zones, a small group of Japanese independent journalists is famed for heading on tough assignments.
Two Japanese freelance journalists, Shinsuke Hashida and Kotaro Ogawa, were killed in Iraq in 2004 when their car was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Nagai's father, Hideo Nagai, expressed outrage at his son's death.
"I want to say to those responsible in Myanmar, its government, that they cannot do something so outrageous," he said. "I don't want to see anything like this ever happen again."
Off TV screen, 28 September 2007
I have several other pictures of Mr Nagai: his works in Iraq (collage), an Iraqi odd pair of shoes he picked up under the rubble, his motto.
As reported on the BBC and many other major news outlets, (at least) nine people (at least) were killed in the city of Rangoon, Burma, on 28 September 2007. Among them was a Japanese video journalist, Mr Kenji Nagai.
Mr Nagai is a well-known war/conflict reporter for 20 or more years. He's been working for the APF News, a Japanese independent news service. I've seen quite a few reports by him - Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine among others - on various news shows.
He was with the Northern Aliance in November or December 2001. He was at the Firdus Square on 9 April 2003, when the statue was toppled. He was at a Baghdad hospital. He showed us shrapnels, bomblets, rubbles, torn photos and so on. He showed us how children smiled to his camera. He was on a Hamas patrol truck in 2006 (or 2007, before things deteriorated). He visited the beach right after seven members of a picnicking familiy were killed in June 2006. I clearly remember when a local man showed the journalist what was inside of a plastic bag he was holding - it was parts of a human body. Apparently shocked, he kept on reporting, surrounded by local men: "This is where one eye was found."
Honestly I don't know what to write.
The Burmese junta told the Japanese government that the journalist was on a tourist visa (which means, a journalist can not get a work visa), and that he was killed after he got hit by a stray bullet. Rubbish. Some footages from across the road clearly show Mr Nagai was knocked down to the ground by a soldier, and then, he was shot, possibly from the back. According to reports, the bullet went through his heart and he was killed almost instantly.
When he was shot down, Mr Nagai was still concious. He tried to hold his videocam up toward the fleeing crowd - just for a few seconds. An NHK report said the Japanese Embassy has his camera, so I hope we can see what happened to him very soon.
This must not happen. This must not happen anywhere on the earth, to anybody. But this happened to nine people. Nine f***** people. And I only hear one name. Where are other eight names? Where are they?
I can't believe the news today
I can't close my eyes and make it go away.
How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long, how long?
'Cos tonight
We can be as one, tonight.
...
And it's true we are immune
When fact is fiction and TV reality.
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die.
-- U2, Sunday Bloody Sunday (1982)
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# posted:
www.nocommentnews.com/view.php?id=1994
--
UPDATE:
a news clip (a Japanese TV news):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh6CjmxudZM
The first two minutes show the footage which quite clearly shows how he got shot. The man with a walking stick @ 02:10 is his father (aged 80 or so). He says this is too cruel and he would like to protest to the Burmese government. The lady @ 02:20 is Mr Nagai's sister. Then they shows a map of the area (Thailand and Burma). Mr Nagai flew into Burma on the 25th. Then, a footage from the 26th, when the forces opened fire. @03:31, his reports over the telephone. "They say there is going to be a huge demonstration on the 27th. That is tomorrow, and I feel something terrible could happen." @04:23 is an archive photo of him visiting Palestine. @04:30 begins the footage and report on the 28th. (I'm not sure if the footage is Mr Nagai's or not.) This was the last contact. After this telephone contact, the forces used tear gas at the Sule Pagota. @05:08, the Japanese chief cabinet secretary explains some facts: the bullet, entering from his lower chest, went through his heart. Then, again, the footage of the moment. @06:35 is the office of the APF news agency. The man with glasses is Mr Yamaji, his colleage and the boss of the agency. @07:00 starts archive footage. Mr Nagai was the reporter how Saddam's statue was pulled down. @07:30, his report from Palestine, which Mr Yamaji says shows the essence of his report - the Hamas patrol and the beach. And the hospital. @08:30, the Burmese state TV reports the unrest without any footage. The newsreader says among the nine people killed on 28th was a Japanese journalist who was on a tourist visa named Kenji Nagai. He was hit with a bullet when he was with the crowd and was doing some video-shoot. "This is as if it was an accident caused by a stray bullet," notes the Japanese news. @09:15, ASEAN foreign ministers' statement demanding the Burmese government to stop the use of force against civillians. "The United Nations will send an envoy on Saturday, and the Japanese government will send Mr Yabunaka, a top diplomat, on Sunday."
BBC:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DASGVCbtTo
--
UPDATE:
Visit Ko htike's blog (based in London, according to the UK newspapers). Apparently now I know the face of another victim. He looks painfully young. It looks like he was shot in the neck. The picture seems to be originally posted on DVB.
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UPDATE (Sat 29 September 2007):
His colleague, Mr Toru Yamaji of the APF News, left Tokyo this morning for Bangkok, arriving in Burma tonight. He had a trouble in getting a visa but after the Japanese FO pushed, he got it sorted. He is going to recover the body of Nagai and his belongings, particularly a video camera Nagai was using at his last gasp. He is going to stay in Burma for several days. In an TV interview he said he still can't believe Nagai's death but that he would know it's real the moment he meets Mr Nagai at the hospital.
afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h7FxEX455rteen8fRgBnRKumOdsw
I'm hoping the footage will be broadcast after Mr Yamaji gets it. Mr Nagai was on a contract with Mr Yamaji's news agency when he was filming it. I'm doing this (writing about Mr Nagai) partly because I don't want the footage to be buried.
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UPDATE (Sun 30 September 2007):
ABS-CBN News has an excellent article (by the Agence France Presse) in Engish about Mr Kenji Nagai.
Mr Yamaji from the APF News safely arrived in Rangoon last night and identified the body at the morgue. The Daily Yomiuri reports that he "silently looked at Nagai's body for 10 minutes and seemed to be trying to suppress his sorrow over Nagai's death."
Rest In Peace, Nagai-san. I will never forget your reports and will keep doing what I can do.
The same article also says that Mr Yamaji will search for the videotape in the camera the slain journalist held at his last moment. That is, the camera has been taken away. A TV news I'm watching now briefly reports Mr Yamaji was handed Nagai's personal belongings, but he did not find his camera. I wish him best of luck in obtaining the tape.
According to a Yomiuri newspaper report in Japanese, a Burmese doctor carried out a post mortem told Mr Yamaji that the bullet went in from the left-side of his back to the lower right-side of his chest. So he was shot in the back, as we saw in the footages. He was shot at a close range (about one meter), and died almost instantly. Don't forget this: at first he was reported to have been "hit with a stray bullet". As I don't understand the Burmese language and I can never know for sure (I've read the translated news articles and TV news subtitles), but their state TV reported something like "the troops fired, and the Japanese journalist was killed while videotaping the demonstration."
Meanwhile, Mr Yabunaka, a senior foreign officer, has left Tokyo for Rangoon to probe the killing. "Yabunaka was seeking to meet with Foreign Minister Nyan Win, Home Affairs Minister Maung Oo and other Myanmar leaders during his three-day visit to Yangon, the foreign ministry said."
--
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
I am currently updating all the news I hear at another post because this page is getting quite long:
www.flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1462104357/
Please read the description and comments over there for a more updated information. Thanks.
Pages of the Tokyo Shinbun, 28 September 2007
I wrote about the Japanese journalist who was shot dead by a Burmese soldier at:
www.flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1451789581/
Pages of the Tokyo Shinbun, 28 September 2007
I wrote about the journalist at:
www.flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1451789581/
---
# posted:
www.nocommentnews.com/view.php?id=1994
upload.nowpublic.com/culture/citizen-journalists-expose-m...
The front page of the Tokyo Shinbun, 28 September 2007
I wrote about the journalist at:
www.flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1451789581/
---
# posted:
www.nocommentnews.com/view.php?id=1994
www.nowpublic.com/culture/citizen-journalists-expose-myan...
A multi-lingual sign (Japanese out of the frame) for "Narrow Street: Do not leave your bike here" in English (with something slightly odd) and in Chinese.
おかげさまで is a set phrase. It means "Thanks to you" or "Your support enabled this". This store has been around for twenty years, and the store master shows his gratitude: "Thanks to you all, it's our twentieth anniversary!"
... or should I have made a quiz, like "what is the word in English?"
I forgot to upload this picture from 16th August 2007, when a massive earthquake hit Peru. I heard that it was such a huge quake and switched the TV on, but it was a "sport and entertainment news" which showed "David Beckham on the LA Galaxy". Still they have a tsunami warning on the right-hand corner of the screen. So this surreal picture is here... Becks and a map of Japan with yellow tsunami warning lines.
A street in Tokyo, 15 September 2007 - three days after Mr Shinzo Abe of the LDP (Jimin To) said he would step down.
This is a rubbish collection point. Two cardboard boxes and one LDP poster board.
A street in Tokyo, 15 September 2007 - three days after Mr Abe expressed his will to step down as the prime minister.
For description, see another photo:
flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1424273155/
A street in Tokyo, 15 September 2007. See notes for some language tips.
Well, I decided to make my kind of documentary after the Upper House election (on 28 July 2007) and looked for the two main party's posters on my way. This poster was for the election. The old man below is a veteran LDP lawmaker, Mr Sanzo Hosaka, who failed to be elected this time.
What I find funny is the LDP Tokyo were planning a gathering for "2016 Tokyo Olympic Games" on 31st July 2007 - three days after the election. They must have expected an up-beat meeting of the "2016 Tokyo" supporters. I have no idea about how it turned out, but I don't think the LDP were happy after the heavy loss - the control of the Upper House had gone to the opposition.
Even after the heavy loss at the election, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was, well, defiant. He said it was his duty to carry on. He reminded me of Mr Tony Blair in 2005, although Abe is still worse than Bliar as a politician.
He went to the Apec summit in Sydney, Australia, where he showed us the fact that he was a good friend of the American president, etc etc. Less than a week later, on the 10th September, Mr Abe made his policy speech at the House of Representatives. Everyone thought he was to carry on. The opposition parties were preparing their questions to ask the prime minister.
And then, alas! On 12th September, on the very day he was supposed to answer the opposition questions, Mr Abe suddenly said he was going to step down! We have never heard a PM stepping down after making a policy speech without answering questions!!
This is why we think he is irresponsible.
The Diet (national congress) has been suspended since then, and the irresponsible Abe has been in hospital because he is sick in stomach. Sick in stomach? Well, I would like to express my sympathy for the hardships suffered by the prime minister... (click on the link and you will see that I am joking.)
Anyway, this farce is going to end today. The governing Liberal Democrats are going to choose a new party president, which means we will have our new prime minister. I'm not a LDP member so I don't have a say. (To tell the truth, I am totally fed up with the "new PM election" farce on the mainstream media.)
*POSTED on NoCommentNews:
www.nocommentnews.com/view.php?id=1982
A street in Tokyo, 15 September 2007. Click on the pic and see notes for some language tips.
Well, I decided to make my kind of documentary after the Upper House election (on 28 July 2007) and looked for the two main party's posters on my way.
This poster is for Mr Akira Nagatsuma, a Liberal Party MP for the Lower House, who has been doing great job as an opposition lawmaker. He has a lot to say.
But the poster has too much - who can read all these words while walking by?
A street in Tokyo, 15 September 2007. See notes for some language tips.
Well, I decided to make my kind of documentary after the Upper House election (on 28 July 2007) and looked for the two main party's posters on my way.
I have no idea when it's posted. They use the same photo as the other poster, but use different (a bit funnier) words. I think this is an after-the-election-win poster, which shows he's waiting for the next big move...
Compare with an Abe/LDP poster, which seems ... well, he's resigned.
A close-up of this poster. See note by clicking on the pic for the katakana.
Compare with a close-up of another poster.
A close-up photo of this poster. Just for some kanji fan. (Click on the pic and see the notes.)
A street in Tokyo, at the end of August 2007. See notes by clicking on the pic for some language tips.
Well, I decided to make my kind of documentary after the Upper House election (on 28 July 2007) and looked for the two main party's posters on my way.
As with another pair of Ozawa posters from the same week, the top one looks pretty new - probably one month old (they must have put this just before the election). The other one (smiling Ozawa) looks older - faded and losing the red colour - and it shows the date "4th July 2007". (Mr Ozawa's speaking tour.)
Compare with an Abe/LDP poster which I suppose is as old as these Ozawa posters.
A street in Tokyo, at the end of August 2007. See notes by clicking on the picture for some language tips.
Well, I decided to make my kind of documentary after the Upper House election (on 28 July 2007) and looked for the two main party's posters on my way.
The top one looks pretty new - but I don't think they put it after the election so it's at least one-month old. The one (smiling Ozawa) looks a bit older. I also posted another pair of Ozawa posters from the same week.
Compare with an Abe/LDP poster which I suppose is as old as these Ozawa posters.
