Japan is looking into reports that a Japanese man may have been detained possibly by militants in Syria, the foreign ministry said Monday, according to Reuters.
The government was trying to confirm through the Japanese embassy in Damascus, now operating out of Jordan, the reports that surfaced over the weekend, such as online posts showing a man being captured, allegedly in Syria, a ministry official said, Reuters reported.
A video clip posted on YouTube showed a T-shirt clad man lying on the ground being questioned by unidentified persons and responding that he was Japanese and his name was Haruna Yukawa, according to Reuters. He also said he was part-journalist, part-doctor.
The name is the same as that of a chief executive of a self-described private mercenary and security firm, Reuters reported.
A ministry official said Japan received a tip from a person, not a country or terrorist group, about the capture, Reuters reported.
Three investigative task forces have been set up, one in Jordan, another in the Prime Minister's office in Tokyo and another on international terrorism at the national police, he told reporters, according to Reuters.
The detained man is not believed to be among the 22 Japanese registered as residing in Syria, such as spouses of Syrians, and that means the individual may have entered the country illegally, said the official, who asked not to be named because of ministry policy. He did not elaborate, Reuters reported.
The Japanese government has warned against travel in Syria, where fighting has been ongoing between Syrian government forces and the Islamic State group and other rebels that control northern Syria and parts of Iraq, according to Reuters.
The government does not plan to send investigators into Syria as it feels that is too dangerous, the official said, Reuters reported.
Japan's constitution after World War II prevents the nation from taking part in most military combat, according to Reuters. Japan has taken part in humanitarian and peacekeeping missions in the Middle East.
More than 170,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil war, which pits overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim rebels against President Bashar al-Assad, a member of the Shi'ite-derived Alawite minority, backed by Shi'ite militias from Iraq and Lebanon, Reuters reported.
