By Yoko Narita (Tokyo, Japan) Japanese version
Vigil for the victims of the recent ISIS hostage crisis, Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa, took place simultaneously in eight different cities (Sapporo, Sendai, Chiba, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, and Fukuoka) in Japan at five o’clock in the evening on February 8. This event was not in fact organized or coordinated by any particular individuals or by any organizations. Rather, it came about spontaneously by the request of people who expressed their desire on the Internet to have a vigil.
Near Shibuya station in Tokyo, people started arriving and gathering in front of Hachi-ko statue before 5 PM., and the place was filled with 200 people by 6:30PM. Some came alone; others came in family and in groups. There, men and women from all walks of life held flowers, stick lights and signs reading, “I am Kenji,” “I am Haruna,” and “We will never forget you,” expressing their solidarity for peace and honored the lives of the victims slain by ISIS, including the Jordanian pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh.
One female participant in her 20s said, “I am afraid their bodies will not return to their families. It’s unlikely that they received any funerals over there, either. That really saddens me, and I wanted to do something. So, I came here today and showed my respect and asked peace for their souls.”
