Freed Japanese Journalist Yasuda Returns Home from Turkey

Narita, Chiba Pref., Oct. 25 (Jiji Press)--Japanese freelance journalist Junpei Yasuda, who had been released from militant captivity in Syria recently, arrived at Narita International Airport near Tokyo on Thursday evening after leaving Turkey earlier in the day. Yasuda, 44, told the media on the plane from Istanbul that he was happy to be headed home. After 40 months of captivity, Yasuda had a reunion with his wife, Myu, at Narita airport. According to the wife, he looked thinner and weak, and had a sheepish smile when she hugged him. Yasuda will hold a press conference at a later date, a lawyer who had worked for his release said. He is willing to explain what happened to him as much as possible, according to the wife. About the reason why he claimed himself as a South Korean in a video released online earlier this year, he was quoted as saying that the false declaration had been made to keep secret the whereabouts of his captors. Japanese police plan to interview him about his detention in Syria. Yasuda left an immigration facility in Antakya in the southern Turkish province of Hatay, where he was put under protective custody, on Wednesday evening local time. The journalist arrived at an airport in Hatay by car. He walked toward the departure lobby, with officials of the Turkish authorities supporting him by holding his arms. Yasuda did not answer to questions from reporters before getting on the plane. He flew to Istanbul for a transit stop. A medical officer sent from Japan conducted a health checkup on Yasuda and found no particular problem, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday. Yasuda was held hostage by militants soon after entering Syria from Antakya in June 2015 for reporting purposes. His release was announced on Tuesday. END