Freed Japanese returns to Japan from China

TOKYO, Oct. 10 Kyodo - A Japanese employee of construction company Fujita Corp., who was detained by Chinese authorities for 19 days for allegedly entering a military zone in Hebei Province without permission, arrived in Tokyo from Shanghai on Sunday and said
he felt ''so happy'' to be back in Japan.
Sadamu Takahashi, 57, was released Saturday, the last of four Fujita employees
who were detained on Sept. 20, to be set free.
Takahashi said at a news conference at Fujita's headquarters in Tokyo that he
did not know for sure why he had been detained longer than the other three, who
were released Sept. 30 and have already returned to Japan, but he
''speculates'' that it was because he had been videotaping without noticing a
sign prohibiting it.
''I am extremely sorry for causing concern. I am so happy to be able to return
to Japan,'' he said.
A voice on the videotape could be heard warning the men that they were in a
military-controlled area but Takahashi said he had not noticed at the time,
adding he was the only one filming.
Takahashi also said he posted bail of 50,000 yuan, or 610,000 yen, upon his
release and submitted a letter of apology saying, ''I violated Chinese law and
caused trouble. I sincerely regret it.''
Earlier, China's official Xinhua News Agency, quoting state security
authorities in Shijiazhuang, said Takahashi was ''released on bail.''
Takahashi's release came after Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao agreed in Brussels on Oct. 4 to mend bilateral ties.
Relations have been strained since collisions between a Chinese fishing boat
and two Japanese Coast Guard vessels Sept. 7 off the disputed Senkaku Islands
in the East China Sea.
After Japanese authorities arrested the captain of the Chinese boat and sent
him to prosecutors, China unilaterally suspended high-level exchanges with
Japan, while claiming that the captain was being detained illegally.
The Senkaku Islands are administered by Japan but also claimed by China, which
refers to them as the Diaoyu Islands.
Takahashi, Yoshiro Sasaki, Hiroki Hashimoto and Junichi Iguchi, who were based
in Shanghai, were detained while visiting Shijiazhuang as part of Fujita's
plans to bid for a Japanese-financed project to remove abandoned chemical
weapons left by the Japanese military during World War II.
They were accused by Chinese authorities of entering a military zone and
filming military facilities without authorization. Takahashi and Sasaki said
after their release they had not been aware that they had entered a
military-controlled area.
According to Takahashi and others, the Chinese authorities told the four they
''were guilty as they had videotaped military facilities.'' But the authorities
did not ban the four from traveling to China, they said.
Takahashi declined to comment when asked by a reporter what he thought of the
strained bilateral ties between Japan and China, amid speculation that the
Fujita employees had been detained as part of China's retaliation for Japan's
detention of the Chinese skipper.
When asked whether he would go to China again if ordered by the company,
Takahashi said, ''I was released just yesterday so I have yet to sort out my
feelings, but I would like to be engaged in work associated with China.''
After the four were questioned in hotels and in what appeared to be a military
accommodation facility, Takahashi was removed to another location on Sept. 29,
a day before the other three were released.
He saw a Chinese TV program on Sept. 30 that said the other three Fujita
employees had been released and he was convinced when he later saw another TV
program on their release, Takahashi said.
''I had no clue how long I would be detained, and thinking about it every day,
I felt depressed,'' he said.
Takahashi said he was treated well during his ''residential surveillance'' and
spent his time reading books provided by the Japanese Embassy, washing his
clothes and taking a walk.