was a Japanese

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...

who took many assignments to conflict zones and dangerous areas around the world. He was shot dead in Myanmar during the

Saffron Revolution The Saffron Revolution (; ) was a series of economic and political protests and demonstrations that took place during August, September, and October 2007 in Myanmar. The protests were triggered by the decision of the national military govern ...

while filming. Nagai continued to take photographs as he lay wounded on the ground, later dying from gunshot injuries to the chest. The government of Myanmar claimed that the cause of his death was a stray bullet; this was later disproven. Despite carrying his camera during a protest in the

, it later went missing, supposedly because of a Myammar soldier taking it. In 2023, the camera and footage were returned. He was the only foreign national killed in the protests.

Background

Kenji Nagai grew up in

Imabari, Ehime is a city in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. It is the second largest city in the prefecture. , the city had an estimated population of 152,111 in 75,947 households and a population density of 360 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Th ...

, Japan, and graduated from Imabari Nishi High School. Nagai attended

Tokyo Keizai University (Tokyo University of Economics) is a private university in Kokubunji, Tokyo, Kokubunji, Tokyo, Japan. Overview It has campuses at the cities of Kokubunji, Tokyo, Kokubunji and Musashimurayama, Tokyo, Musashimurayama. The predecessor of the sch ...

( 東京経済大学), and after graduation he studied abroad in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for a year. After his return to Japan, Nagai held a part-time job before embarking upon his career as a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. Working as a contract photojournalist for

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

's AFP News, Nagai was accustomed to traveling to dangerous places in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. From 1997 until his death, Nagai took assignments in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, the

Palestinian territories The occupied Palestinian territories, also referred to as the Palestinian territories, consist of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip—two regions of the former Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine ...

, and

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, taking photographs that captured the essence of war. Nagai arrived in Myanmar two days before the government began attacking

Buddhist monks A ''bhikkhu'' (, ) is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male, and female monastics (''bhikkhunī''), are members of the Sangha (Buddhist community). The lives of all Buddhist monastics are governed by a set of rules called the prātimo ...

protesting against the

military junta A military junta () is a system of government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''Junta (governing body), junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the Junta (Peninsular War), national and local junta organized by t ...

that has ruled the country since deposing the democratic government in a 1962 coup d'état. The protests originally began when the government raised the price of fuel, but grew into mass demonstrations in the tens of thousands, with Buddhist monks leading pro-democracy marches in the streets of

Yangon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

. According to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', an associate of Nagai's said he was "relentless" when it came to covering a story, believing that he had to travel to "the places nobody wants to go".

Death

Nagai had been in Myanmar covering the anti-government protests since Tuesday, September 25. On Thursday, September 27, Nagai was photographing the protests near the

Traders Hotel Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts () is a multinational hospitality company, founded in 1971 by tycoon Robert Kuok and bearing the name of a Far Eastern mythical land of contentment depicted in the 1933 novel '' Lost Horizon''. It is a subsidiary ...

, a few blocks away from the

Sule Pagoda The Sule Pagoda (; ) is a Burmese Buddhist stupa located in the heart of downtown Yangon, occupying the centre of the city and an important space in contemporary Burmese politics, ideology and geography. According to legend, it was built before ...

in downtown Yangon, when soldiers opened fire on demonstrators, killing Nagai and reportedly injuring another foreign journalist. Reports initially stated that Nagai was hit by stray bullets fired by soldiers or possibly shot from the front. The "stray bullet" explanation was proposed by the

government of Myanmar Myanmar ( formerly Burma) () operates ''de jure'' as a unitary assembly-independent republic under its 2008 constitution. On 1 February 2021, Myanmar's military took over the government in a coup, causing ongoing anti-coup protests. P ...

as an explanation for Nagai's death. However, video footage obtained by Japanese television appears to show a Burmese soldier shoving Nagai to the ground and shooting him at

point-blank range Point-blank range is any distance over which a certain firearm or gun can hit a target without the need to elevate the barrel to compensate for bullet drop, i.e. the gun can be pointed horizontally at the target. For targets beyond-blank range ...

. A still image photographed by Adrees Latif showed the soldier standing over Nagai, who was sprawled on the ground and still clutching his camera. This photograph appeared on the front page of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' on September 28, 2007. A subsequent shot showed Nagai's body sprawled in the street as the soldier walked away. Judging from the patch, the soldier responsible is believed to be from one of the Light Infantry Divisions (possibly LID 66) in charge of crowd control in

at the time of protests. At the Japanese embassy in Myanmar, a physician established the trajectory of the fatal bullet that killed Nagai, determining that the bullet entered Nagai's chest from the lower right side and pierced his heart before exiting from his back. On October 8, new footage showing a Burmese soldier apparently confiscating a fallen Nagai's video camera was revealed on a Japanese news show. Adrees Latif's photograph, depicting Nagai sprawled on the pavement before his death, won the

Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography The Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography is one of the American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. From 2000 it has used the "breaking news" name but it is considered a continuation of the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photogr ...

in 2008.

Response

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...

condemned the killing of Nagai, noting that Nagai was carrying a camera in his hand when he was shot, identifying him as a journalist. The director of the RWB's

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

branch, Lucie Morillon, said that Nagai was "left to die in the street". Japanese Prime Minister

Yasuo Fukuda is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2007 to 2008. He was previously the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history, serving in that role from 2000 to 2004 under Prime Ministers Yoshirō Mori an ...

bemoaned Nagai's death as "extremely unfortunate" and Chief Cabinet Secretary

Nobutaka Machimura was a Japanese politician. He was a member of the House of Representatives of Japan and a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. Machimura said: "We strongly protest the Myanmar government and demand an investigation (into the death). We demand (Myanmar) take appropriate steps to ensure the safety of the Japanese citizens in that country". Japan's Foreign Minister

Masahiko Kōmura is a Japanese politician who served as Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party from 2012 to 2018. He served in several cabinet position, including as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1998 to 1999 and again from 2007 to 2008. He was a ...

stated that Japan holds Myanmar accountable for the death of Kenji Nagai. According to Kōmura, U.S. Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza "Condi" Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist serving since 2020 as the 8th director of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served ...

told him that the "international community cannot allow peaceful protesters to be killed and injured". On September 28, Masahiko Kōmura lodged a protest over the killing of Nagai when he met with Myanmar's Foreign Minister

Nyan Win Nyan Win (, ; born 22 January 1953) is a former Chief Minister of Bago Region, having served from 2011 to 2016. He won a Regional Hluttaw seat in an uncontested election in 2010, representing Zigon Township, and was appointed Chief Minister of ...

at the

United Nations Headquarters The headquarters of the United Nations (UN) is on of grounds in the Turtle Bay, Manhattan, Turtle Bay neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It borders First Avenue (Manhattan), First Avenue to the west, 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd ...

. In the meeting, Nyan Win apologized for Nagai's death. Yabunaka Mitoji, Deputy Minister for Japanese Foreign Affairs, left for Myanmar on September 30. Although Nyan Win officially apologized, an October 13 article locally published in the government-owned ''Mirror'' newspaper offered a different view of the events. It claimed that Nagai had entered the country using a tourist visa instead of proper journalist visa and faulted the cameraman for failing to get a permit to cover the news inside Myanmar. It emphasized that the event occurred at the time of martial law being imposed and the soldiers could not differentiate between a Burmese citizen and a Japanese because of the resemblance in Asian looks. Nagai's father, Hideo, told the media: "I don't want Myanmar authorities and the government to resort to such measures. I want them to prevent something like this from happening again". According to Japan's Foreign minister Masahiko Komura, Japan is considered curbing development aid for Myanmar. "The Group Protesting the Murder of Mr. Nagai by the Army of Myanmar" was founded by Japanese journalists, intellectuals, and celebrities in order to protest Nagai's killing and petition for the return of his camera and tape. By November 2007 the group collected 20,000 signatures, primarily in Japan. On November 26, 2007, the group posted an English version of the letter on their website and started collecting signatures internationally. Sixteen years later, in 2023, Nagai's camera and footage was returned to his sister Noriko in Bangkok. Footage shows him reporting on the arrival of armed military at the protests, shortly before a soldier fatally shot him in the chest.

Kenji Nagai Award

The Burma Media Association established an award in Nagai's memory. The award aims to recognize individuals who have reported the truth about Myanmar. The first award, in 2009, was presented to Eint Khaing Oo, a Burmese female journalist.

References

External links

Nagai's friends struggle for words

The Group Protesting the Murder of Mr. Nagai by the Army of Myanmar

Video

The documentary picture of the Iraqi War by Nagai. Part 1 (video)
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APF通信社

Kenji Nagai shot by Burmese soldiers (video)
at

Dailymotion Dailymotion is a French online video platform, online video sharing platform owned by Canal+ S.A., Canal+. Prior to 2024, the company was owned by Vivendi. North American launch partners included Vice Media, Bloomberg L.P., Bloomberg, and Hears ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagai, Kenji 1957 births 2007 deaths Japanese photojournalists Japanese war correspondents Agence France-Presse photojournalists Deaths by firearm in Myanmar Filmed assassinations Japanese people murdered abroad Japanese people of the Iraq War War photographers killed while covering military conflicts People from Imabari, Ehime People murdered in Myanmar Photography in Myanmar Protest-related deaths War correspondents of the Iraq War Assassinated Japanese journalists 2007 murders in Myanmar