Forbidden from moving or making noise, Japanese hostage recounts Syrian torment

Glad he's home. This is the second time. Please don't let there be a third.

Luckily his schooling prepared him well to survive this situation...

Yasuda was forbidden from moving or making any noise - same in Japanese jails

I'm so glad this man is back home. What he's gone through has been horrible and it will probably take some time before he can cope with it.

Japanese Hostages and their Families are still impelled to apology by social pressure.

Japanese Society is still in shameful situation that need to be explained why Free and Independent Journalism is important and necessary even if they take any risk.

so much for Islam. His pious muslim captors tell us all we need to know.

Welcome home. It will take some time for him to recover, one can only imagine what he's been through.

so much for Islam. His pious muslim captors tell us all we need to know.

All religions have hypocrites and those who use it to justify wrongdoing - like this case, or the sexual abuse of thousands of children worldwide by Catholic clergy.

The perpetrators of such horrific crimes do not represent an entire religion. But you know this, I think.

Just saw him briefly this morning (on the plane back to J). I thought he looked remarkably serene considering what he's just been through. Some ppl develop delayed PTSD, in some cases months if not years after a traumatic event. Hope he'll get all the support he needs/deserves.

The Syrian rebels known as FSA. They are actually an amalgam of Islamist and Jihadist groups. Where Al Qaeda is also included.

This was known since 2012. Because Mr. Yosuda was not informed of that before the trip. The kidnapping was foreseeable. He could have travelled to the Kurdish area of the YPG. There are clandestine Japanese mercenary units deployed there. At least until Raqqa's release in 2017, I know they were there. They could have given him protection.

Yeah, it’s good to see he was eventually released, but in all honesty, the flip should not have been there in the first place. If you jump into a pit of snakes, you are bound to get bitten.

So glad to see him released. Some journalists like him risk their lives to report on the most depraved conditions of humanity. They deserve our utmost respect.

Forbidden to move or make any noise... wow.

Unable even to scratch his scalp? It sounds suffocating. I think I'd ask for a close hair cut. No wonder he seemed serene, goldorak, like doing Zazen for three years.

Here's to hoping this guy is headed to a secluded mountain ryokan somewhere off the beaten path with family and friends so simply eat, drink, soak in the onsen, rest, and be merry.

Doesnt have a scratch on him, nor malnourished. Just unshaven.. Can't really judge much. If your held captive, I doubt they feed you gourmet meals or anything at all and I'd imagine they'd beat you up.. But no scratches visible from the Japanese TV news source also.

Doesnt have a scratch on him, nor malnourished.

Are you a doctor?

Can't really judge much.

So stop trying.

Forbidden from moving or making noise,

When I saw the title, I thought that described his situation now in "hammer the nail that sticks out" Japan.

Good for him he was freed. Best wishes for future.

Im just judging at all, only by by how he's been talking and the way he looks on tv, Otto when in North Korea does look malnourished and psychologically tortured, poor guy died in the end.

Extanker your no doctor either, but you can't just accept everything the media tells you can you? How do we know who this person really is?

You forget how the media brainwashed people with scare tactics on many things, since the Y2K till now. Media is a corporation making money on views..

What happened to the Y2K, WMD, Isis all these catchphrases to scare people. How exactly do these so called 'isis' thugs obtain the latest Landruisers and have military training exactly? Where are the weapons coming from? You don't stop to think and realise all the content you see on tv is questionable?

Media are corporations FOR profit from your views.

He isn't anorexic, he can look into the camera properly. If he had psychological torture or any strange acts occur to him, would be keen for press coverage or look properly into a camera? Would you for that reason?

I an only questioning what I see, not be hai hai Japanese and for most of us we are annoyed having to pay for his release and many others in the past.

Kenji, I agree with you.