Japan Shocked, Perplexed Over Iraq Hostage
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Shosei Koda did not go to Iraq to distribute aid, reconstruct the country or strike it rich in the oil business. He was not connected with Japan's government or its armed forces.
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A headless body found in Baghdad has been confirmed as that of a Japanese hostage whose captors had threatened to kill him if Japan did not pull out its troops, Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said on Sunday.
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Japanese leaders struggled on Thursday to make contact with Islamic militants in Iraq who took a Japanese traveler hostage as the 48-hour deadline approached for the young man's threatened beheading. Tokyo stood firm in its refusal to meet the kidnappers' demand to withdraw troops from Iraq.
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Japan has said it will keep its troops in Iraq, despite the beheading of a Japanese hostage by Islamic militants. Officials had earlier confirmed that a body found in Baghdad yesterday was that of Shosei Koda
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TOKYO - There are conflicting reports about whether a Japanese man taken hostage in Iraq last week has been killed by his captors.
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&quot;There is a possibility that this is the body of the Japanese hostage, but it has yet to be identified,&quot; a ministry spokesman said on Saturday.
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Japan scrambled on Friday to check a report that an Asian body had been found in Iraq after a deadline expired for the beheading of a Japanese man whose
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Japan Wednesday refused to withdraw its forces from Iraq despite the threat by Islamic militants to execute a Japanese hostage if the troops remain.
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By Natalie Obiko Pearson, Associated Press, 10/30/2004 01:52. TOKYO  A body resembling a Japanese hostage held by Islamic militants has been found in Iraq, the government announced Saturday, and officials
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Japan raced against the clock yesterday to free a young Japanese hostage in Iraq but had little reason for hope less than a day before the deadline set by al-Qaida-linked militants for his killing.
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Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura announces that Japanese govenment has confirmed that a depapitated body found in Iraq is that of Japanese hostage Shosei Koda during an emergency news conference in Tokyo Sunday, Oct. 31, 2004.
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An armed group in Iraq has taken a Japanese traveler hostage and threatened to kill him unless Tokyo withdraws its Self-Defense Forces troops from the country within 48 hours, government officials said in Tokyo on Wednesday.
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Japan's prime minister, a staunch U.S. ally in Iraq, refused on Wednesday to withdraw Japan's troops from the country, taking a tough stance in the face of demands by militants threatening to behead a Japanese hostage unless the soldiers leave.
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Japan has been appealing for international help to secure the release of a Japanese man kidnapped by Islamic militants in Iraq and threatened with death.
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TONY EASTLEY: The Japanese Government says it will continue its mission in Iraq, despite the beheading of one of its citizens. The troop deployment is unpopular in Japan, but surprisingly, the political fallout
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A group led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi threatened to behead a Japanese hostage in Iraq if Tokyo did not withdraw its troops, but Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Japan's contingent would stay put.
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JAPAN&#39;S troop deployment in Iraq beyond December is at risk as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi braces for a wave of public anger over the nightmare ending to the country&#39;s second Baghdad hostage crisis.