Afghan captors release Japanese reporter

[Turborama]

Source: AP

A Japanese journalist who was abducted by apparent Taliban militants in Afghanistan five months ago has been freed by his captors, reports said Sunday.

Kosuke Tsuneoka, a freelance journalist and veteran of war zones, was released Saturday night in good health and was at the Japanese Embassy in Kabul, Kyodo News agency cited government sources as saying. Japan's Foreign Ministry and its embassy in the Afghan capital declined to comment.

Tsuneoka's mother told Kyodo that her 41-year-old son had called home from the embassy after being released in the Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz province.

Tsuneoka's captors apparently decided to release him because he is a fellow Muslim, Kyodo said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100905/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_afghan_missing_journalist

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This undated photo shows Kosuke Tsuneoka,
a Japanese journalist and veteran of war zones.

[mike r]

1. Payment received

Didn't they ask for a few hundred thousand dollars?

[AsahinaKimi]

2. "because he is a fellow Muslim,"

Hard to believe, as there are not that many Japanese Muslims in Japan. Perhaps he converted while under their "care". Islam is well entrenched in places like Malaysia and I believe in Indonesia, but if Japanese Christians are less then 1% then there have to be fewer followers of Islam.

[Turborama]

3. "According to his personal website, Tsuneoka converted to the religion in 2000 while in Moscow."

According to the AP piece linked to in the OP.

Moscow sounds like a totally random place to convert to being a Muslim but stranger things have happened, I suppose. :shrug:

[Vehl]

5. Russia....2000? Do i smell a chechnyan connection?

i wonder if he covered the chechnyan war. Russia might think twice about allowing him into their country after this event though

[mike r]

4. It's 1% in Japan

from 2009 Population Data (CIA World Factbook):
http://www.factbook.net/muslim_pop.php

[AsahinaKimi]

6. Still not very many

Probably more then Christians.. Japanese are very comfortable being Buddhist Shinto.

[Art_from_Ark]

7. Well, they''ve got Buddhism, and they've got Shintoism

One doesn't have any gods per se, the other has gods for every occasion. :hi: