Jumpei Was Rescued. Aren't We Happy? 素直に喜べませんかね？

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I'm glad about the return of Mr. Jumpei Yasuda, a freelance journalist in captivity in the Middle East for 40 months. But I've been feeling something wrong with people's comments on his return.

They say, "He was responsible." Yes, he is, but for what and so what? He made a decision to go there and was held as a hostage for more than three years. There is no doubt that he's responsible for all that happened to him. But what I don't understand is that nobody says nothing further. Should he apologize, be punished or repay the ransom?

As far as I know, only Takeshi Kitano insinuated that he should pay back the ransom to the payer (by the way we don't who paid it), saying that Jumpei was like a person missing on a mountain and being helped by a rescue team and that therefore he has to pay the rescue cost.

I'm saying this because discussing whether or not Jumpei shouldn't have gone there in the first place is meaningless. We have no right to stop Jumpei or any others going anywhere no matter why, i.e., even if they go to war zones not to report what is happening there, but to become famous for money. What we need to do right now is rule making. The Japanese government, fortunately or unfortunately, has been saying that they would never negotiate with or pay ransoms to terrorist groups. So, if journalists go to prohibited countries or regions, they may get scoops or nothing or may be killed and that's it. Period. Kenji Goto, another freelance journalist, was killed, which was the risk he must have been aware of. This time, luckily, Jumpei was rescued. So, why can't we be just be happy for him?

We need to determine rules. Whether Jumpei will go again to Syria despite the Japanese government's repeated warnings is none of our business. Also, whether he may be killed is his business and his reason for going, i.e., for money or to find the truth as a journalist, doesn’t matter either. A vulgar surgeon helping a lot of patients is much better than gracious surgeons who botch operations.     

I find it worthwhile for journalists to cover war zones to report what is really happening. And as long as we benefit from their coverage, we should stop criticizing those risking their lives and focus on making rules for their future work.

安田純平さんの生還が報道されているが、その論調に少々違和感を感じてます。やたら「自己責任」て言うでしょ。うん、そうだけど何か？と聞きたいのです。自己責任だから国民に謝れってこと、罰を受けるべきだってこと、それとも身代金を返済しろとかってこと？今まではっきり言ったのは北野武さんぐらいでしょうか。安田氏を山の遭難者に例え、山で遭難して救助された人は費用を負担すると言って、暗に安田氏に身代金を負担するように言ってました。

でもね、行くなという権利は我々にはないし、行ってもやめないだろうし、議論すべきはそういうことではない気がするのです。ルールを作るだけじゃないんですかね。幸か不幸か、日本政府は、「テロ組織とは交渉しないし、身代金も払わない」と言ってるのだから、それでいいんじゃないですかね。警告を無視していって後藤健二さんのように殺されてしまうこともあるわけです。それも自己責任。今回は運よく帰れたのだから、素直に喜んであげればいいのでは、というのが私の意見です。それと、真実を報道したいという気持ちで行こうが、有名になりたいという気持ちで行こうが、そんなこともどうでもいいわけです。我々は、自発的に命を懸ける彼らの報道によって、自分では知ることのできない世界の実情を知ることができているわけですから、そこには感謝しつつ、でもこれ以上のことはできませんよ、でいいんじゃないんですかね。そういう人もいるってことでいいんじゃないですかね。トレラント（tolerant）の気持ち、違いは違いでいいじゃないか、ということでいいと思いますが、いかがでしょう？