It's been three years. 長井健司さん射殺から3年

It's been three years. 長井健司さん射殺から3年
Originally uploaded by nofrills

Picture of Mr Toru Yamaji's tweets:
twitter.com/yamajitoru/status/25197811156
twitter.com/yamajitoru/status/25198431157

Today marks the third anniversary of Kenji Nagai's death. On 27th September 207, the Japanese journalist was shot at the close range when he was filming the people's protest in Rangoon, Burma. See the video (raw footage):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfgRs-JII78

Or check out my archive back in 2007:
whatiseehere.blogspot.com/search/label/%E9%95%B7%E4%BA%95...

Nagai was holding a camera when he was shot. But it has been missing since. His family members and work collegues have been demanding that the camera should be returned.

Five days before the anniversary, on 22nd September 2010, Mr Toru Yamaji of the APF News with which Nagai had worked many times, visited the Foreign Ministry to ask what they had found out about Nagai's killing: where is his lost (stolen) camera? Who was the shooter, and why?

The answer Yamaji got was very disappointing. He says on Twitter (in Japanese) that he was appalled. "No new development whatsoever," he writes. "Nothing new since when he was shot dead. The Burmese government says it was a stray bullet. The Japanese government says he was deliberately targeted and shot at close range from behind. And nothing has happened."

The Japanese offficials explained that "the Burmese still say the video (of the moment Nagai was shot) was fake. We take a number of occasions to talk about the matter but they only half-heartedly responds."

"The Burmese junta are convinced that the Japanese will always act weak and do nothing," Yamaji writes.

That is (the gist of) what Yamaji reported/tweeted.

Well, the Japanese government believes that a Japanese national was deliberately killed/murdered. What have they done? Nothing. They didn't severe the ties with Burma's junta. They did not even threaten to do so as far as I know (via the mainstream media). The Official Development Assistance (ODA) has not been stopped (in Japanese) for instance.

Diplomacy? That does not exist in the Japanese government.

Follow Toru Yamaji on twitter (in Japanese):
twitter.com/yamajitoru

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Mr Kiyomu Toyota, a Japanese photo journalist, posted a picture of the footbridge in Rangoon from where at the time the photographers and videographers stood on and filmed the carnage. The bridge is closed, or sealed, to be precise.
twitpic.com/2rf91b
twitter.com/KiyomuTomita/status/25389061375

Kenji Nagai's funeral

Kenji Nagai's funeral
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

1 (centre). Farewell...,
2. At the gate,
3. Flowers for Nagai,
4. Flowers for Nagai from Burmese people,
5. Nagai's camera (not the lost one),
6. Attendants,
7. Attendant,
8. The press crew,
9. He's gone.,
10. Nagai's works,
11. Nagai's works 2,
12. Nagai's works 3,
13. Nagai's works 4

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

He's gone.

He's gone.
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Kenji Nagai's body has gone to be cremated. They played Nagai's favourite music for the last minutes: 吉田拓郎 (Takuro Yoshida, a Japanese folk singer-songwriter) and John Lennon. The hearse went out of the ceremonial site to "Imagine".

Rest in peace, Nagai-san.

PS:
The song was "Imagine". We sent him to the pure land (浄土) on the Lennon's famous tune.

It's raining.

It's raining.
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

While we waited for his coffin to be carried into the hearse, the rain fall got heavier and heavier.

The person under the transparent umbrella is a media photographer.

The press crew

The press crew
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Journalists at the funeral. Monday 8 October 2007. Aoyama, Tokyo.

Attendant

Attendant
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Japanese people along with Burmese people bid farewell to Kenji Nagai. Monday 8 October 2007. Aoyama, Tokyo.

Attendants

Attendants
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Japanese people along with Burmese people bid farewell to Kenji Nagai. Monday 8 October 2007. Aoyama, Tokyo.

Nagai's camera (not the lost one)

Nagai's camera (not the lost one)
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

One of Kenji Nagai's cameras shown at the funeral.

We still don't get that camera back.

Nagai at work with reflection

Nagai at work with reflection
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

At his funeral, some of Kenji Nagai's portraits in a various places were shown.

Sorry about the quality of these pictures. I hate to use flash at funeral, and there were dozens of people around waiting to see these pictures. And I wanted to show the reflection here - with people who came to bid farewell, but failed because people moved.

Nagai's works 4

Nagai's works 4
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

At his funeral, some of Kenji Nagai's portraits in a various places were shown.

Sorry about the quality of these pictures. I hate to use flash at funeral, and there were dozens of people around waiting to see these pictures.

Nagai's works 3

Nagai's works 3
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

A close-up of this picture:
flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1514582195/

Nagai's works 2

Nagai's works 2
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

At his funeral, some of Kenji Nagai's portraits in a various places were shown.

Sorry about the quality of these pictures. I hate to use flash at funeral, and there were dozens of people around waiting to see these pictures.

Nagai's works

Nagai's works
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

At his funeral, some of Kenji Nagai's portraits in a various places were shown.

Sorry about the quality of these pictures. I hate to use flash at funeral, and there were dozens of people around waiting to see these pictures.

Farewell...

Farewell...
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Kenji Nagai's funeral took place in Aoyama, Tokyo, on Monday 8 October 2007. Among the attended (500 or 1,000 in total) there were hundreds of Burmese people.

The picture is taken in the main hall, where his coffin is placed. Hundreds of white flowers (white chrysanthemums) beautifully surrounded his coffin and his portrait. I was led into the hall to offer incense (it's a Japanese Buddhist ritual for the dead) along with other mourners but the queue was tremendously long. There were so many people. A young mother next to me told her daughter (aged three or four) to say good-bye to "Ken-chan." They seemed to know the journalist. It bring me a smile that a fifty-year-old man was called "Ken-chan" by a three-year-old.

Nagai's parents along with Mr Yamaji and relatives stood just outside the hall to say thanks to the mourners - rather, they were silently thanked, by making bows.

The funeral ritual ends when all the mourners have offered incense. Then it's time to bid farewell to the dead. The coffin is, for the last time, opened and everybody place a flower around the dead.

I have done this many times - my grandfathers, my grandmother, uncle, aunt, father, friends, cousins - but this was the first time for me to lay a flower for somebody I have never spoken with. Nevertheless, I felt as if I knew him. All I could say was "thank you very much". I placed my flower somewhere very close to his right hand.

Flowers for Nagai from Burmese people

Flowers for Nagai from Burmese people
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Kenji Nagai's funeral took place in Aoyama, Tokyo, on Monday 8 October 2007. The NTV's News Zero, for which the slain journalist reported from Rangoon for the last time, has said tonight that more than five hundered people attended.

After Mr Yamaji's address, four Japanese journalists gave their addresses.

Mr Shuntaro Torigoe (鳥越俊太郎), who is one of the most prominent investigative journalists in Japan, gave a very emotional address. He shared the experiences in reporting from war/conflict zones (Iran-Iraq war etc), and talked about Robert Capa.

After the funeral, I went to a bookstore in Roppongi. They have an "outlet" store above the main floor. I found Capa's "Slightly Out of Focus" for 1,050 yen. I bought it.

After MR Torigoe, Ms Misuzu Tamaru (田丸美寿々) told about the last meeting with Nagai back in May. She is presenter of a weekly news show which specialises in investigative journalism. Nagai reported for her programme many times, including the AIDS orphan's home in Thailand. "When I asked in May, 'Nagai-san, where are you planning to go next?', he just smiled back and he was very calm, just as usual. I never thought it would be the last time." She told Nagai that the AIDS orphan's home has been getting more donations from Japan after he reported about it.

Then, Ms Aika Kanou (嘉納愛夏) gave her address. She is a young photographer who began her career in 1990s. She met Nagai in Indonesia in the late 1990s, and at his funeral, she told about what she learned from him. Her works can be viewed at her website. She has lost two of her 先輩 (先輩 means "a more experienced colleague") in the recent years: Nagai and Mr Shinsike Hashida, who was ambushed and killed in Iraq in 2005. She went to Falluja in April 2004, when there was a siege after the Blackwater "civillian contructors" were killed in the city. She told Nagai was there, too, and when he found American troops suspecting Iraqi civillians' vehicle, he stepped forward, spreading his arms, and shouted "I'm a Japanese! Don't shoot! They are civillians! Don't shoot them!"

The fourth address came from Mr Nobutaka Murao (村尾信尚). He used to be a civil servant/bureaucrat (Ministry of Finance) but quit the job in 2002 and started his career as a news presenter in October 2006 at NTV's News Zero. The first special report at the show was done by Nagai: a city office's wire-tapping scandal (小平市役所盗聴事件). His news show had many Nagai's reports from China and North Korea (where Nagai examined "white powder" with test reagent and found out that was "speed") and other places.

At the funeral, Mr Murao told how careful Nagai was in investigating and filming. Also, Nagai never exaggerated or played up something he found out or he saw, and that is why his reports have so much impact on the viewers. Nagai's calm and careful way of reporting and talking impressed him and his colleagues so much. His last report from Rangoon was for Murao's show, on the day before he was shot dead, where he appeared on the show as somebody in Rangoon.

Actually I was watching the show on 26th September. I never thought it was done by a journalist but by somebody from JICA (a Japanese governmental commerce organisation) or a travel agency. The report was very professional; calm and precise. It was only after he was shot when I found out that was done by Nagai.

Murao told in his emotional funeral address that Nagai's report from Rangoon was very calm despite the fact that the troops already fired on the day. Nagai promised to give another call at 16.30 (Japanese time) on 27th, but he didn't. He was shot exactly when he was supposed to phone Murao's newsroom.

Flowers for Nagai

Flowers for Nagai
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Kenji Nagai's funeral took place in Aoyama, Tokyo, on Monday 8 October 2007. The NTV's News Zero, for which the slain journalist reported from Rangoon for the last time, has said tonight that more than five hundered people attended. There also is a report that nearly 1,000 people attended. (I think there were about 1,000 people. Indeed it looked like a sold-out concert at the Studio Coast.)

The ceremony started at 11.00. When I arrived, the main hall (quite big) was already full and more than 150 people were in a big tent outside the hall. There were dozens of Burmese people clad in their traditional orange outfit as well as Japanese people in black. After the ceremony began, more and more mourners arrived, and the big tent was full while the Japanese monks (from Tendai-shu 天台宗, an ancient Chinese/Japanese Buddhist denomination) were chanting a sutra. People stood outside the tent, holding their umbrellas. The rain was pouring.

Mr Toru Yamaji of the APF News gave an funeral address. His clearly shakey voice over the loud speaker set in the tent - "I still can't believe Nagai-san is dead. All I can imagine is Nagai-san is now somewhere on the earth, with a video camera in his hand." He spoke of Nagai's right hand that was rigid as if still he was holding a camera days after his death. He spoke of Nagai's motto - "Someone has to go to a place where no one dares not go. Someone has to witness and tell." - and Yamaji (who is also a journalist, not a businessman) was determined to inherit Nagai's strong will, and keep on moving forward.

Later on Monday, past 23.00, News Zero, an NTV's daily news show, told how determined Nagai was in Rangoon - among his belongings Yamaji brought to Japan, there was a video tape that has several footages on 26 September (the previous day of the shoot-to-kill). The same news show also showed Yamaji as a journalist, who had a video camera on in a car when he was in Rangoon to identify the body. Yamaji's footage showed troops on the street.

At the gate

At the gate
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Kenji Nagai's funeral took place in Aoyama, Tokyo, on Monday 8 October 2007. It was raining off and on all day today: on the day before, the sky was blue and the air was crisp.

The APF News, for which the slain journalist worked, gave him a company funeral.

Click on the pic and see the notes to find out what is written.

In front of Nogizaka Station

In front of Nogizaka Station
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Kenji Nagai's funeral took place in Aoyama, Tokyo, on Monday 8 October 2007. Unlike the day before (7 October), it was a wet, dark day. Tokyo was filled with warm, humid air from the south - muggy, or in Japanese, 蒸し暑い.

In front of the nearest station, Nogizaka, there was a sign to the funeral hall.

Click on the pic and see the notes to find out what is written.

Give Us Back This Camera (long)

Give Us Back This Camera (long)
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Feel free to use this image. I don't claim any right over this image and no attribution needed (though I had no choice other than CC by-nc 2.0 here on flickr).

A bigger one (500 x 375) is also available at:
flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1462365097/

A smaller one (300 x 225) is:
www.flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1462365135/

Read the story on:
flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1462104357/
# Please link to the URL above (I'll be updating over there) if you want a more precise story along with this image.

--
# posted:
flickr.com/groups/helpburmanow/discuss/72157602193066393/

Give Us Back This Camera (small)

Give Us Back This Camera (small)
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Feel free to use this image. I don't claim any right over this image and no attribution needed (though I had no choice other than CC by-nc 2.0 here on flickr).

A bigger one (500 x 375) is also available at:
flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1462365097/

For your sidebar:
www.flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1463055661/

Read the story on:
flickr.com/photos/nofrills/1462104357/
# Please link to the URL above (I'll be updating over there) if you want a more precise story along with this image.

--
# posted:
flickr.com/groups/helpburmanow/discuss/72157602193066393/