TOKYO — In the public’s mind, the two Japanese hostages held by Islamic State militants have become inextricably linked: a pair of grim-faced figures who appeared last week in a video kneeling in orange jumpsuits next to a masked militant demanding a ransom for their lives.
The fates of the two men became even more tightly bound over the weekend, when an image was released showing one holding what appeared to be a photograph of the other’s decapitated body, and the Islamic State announced on its Al Bayan radio station that it had killed one of the men. An Islamic State-affiliated radio station confirmed late Sunday that one of the hostages had been murdered.
Yet the paths that led the two men to their joint captivity in Syria could not have been more different.
The surviving hostage, Kenji Goto, 47, is a respected journalist who knew his way around conflict zones after having spent more than two decades covering them as a freelance television cameraman and the author of five books. He appeared initially drawn to Syria and Iraq by a lifelong idealistic zeal to cover the plight of the weak, and particularly refugee children.
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That same question has been posed by Japanese news media, which have been less sympathetic to Mr. Yukawa than to Mr. Goto. After the image of the decapitated body of Mr. Yukawa appeared, his father, Shoichi, 74, appeared in public to apologize for his son, saying he had caused trouble for both Japan and Mr. Goto.
“My son said he is a sincere and kind person,” Mr. Yukawa’s father, said Sunday, referring to Mr. Goto. “He worried about my son and risked his life by going into the war zone. That pains me. I wish for his quick release and safe return.”
Makiko Inoue and Hisako Ueno contributed reporting.
