TOKYO — In a country where ritual apologies are offered for the slightest offense, Nobutaka Watanabe is having none of it.
A wide swath of Japanese public opinion blames Watanabe and four other former hostages released by Iraqi insurgents for bringing their troubles upon themselves -- and wants to hear them say they're sorry for the kidnappings that swiftly turned into a national trauma.
"There is no good reason to apologize to the Japanese people," Watanabe, a 36-year-old human rights activist, said Wednesday. "If I am going to apologize to anyone I will apologize to the Iraqi people, because it is my government that has sent soldiers to their country."
In this country that remains sharply divided over what role to play in the occupation of Iraq, the debate centers on what the Japanese call jiko sekinin, or personal responsibility. The government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has wielded the term like a fist against the freed hostages -- all of them civilians -- accusing them of endangering more than their own lives by ignoring official warnings against traveling through a war zone.
But critics counter that castigating the hostages is merely a way to deflect attention from Koizumi's decision to send Japanese troops to Iraq.
"The Japanese people's attitude toward the victims is very weird," says Kenji Kataoka, secretary general of the human rights group that sponsored Watanabe's trip. "What about the government's responsibility? The government is just trying to cover up its false step."
But with opinion polls showing more than two-thirds of voters supporting Koizumi's handling of the hostage crisis, the government shows little sign of altering course. On Wednesday, officials said they were still considering billing the five hostages, released after as much as a week in captivity, for the costs of returning them. The government says it spent about $18 million flying negotiators to the Middle East -- it says no ransom was paid -- and that the hostages have a moral responsibility to foot at least a portion of the cost, even if only the air fare back.
It is a far cry from the way newly freed hostages are welcomed in Western countries, where they are more likely to be embraced as media heroes. Released Canadian hostage Fadi Fadel, for example, returned to Montreal from Iraq on Tuesday night and was greeted at the airport by cheering friends and relatives. A local bakery gave him a cake topped with a massive Canadian flag.
