The government should maintain its policy of confiscating passports of Japanese nationals seeking to enter a foreign country or area controlled by extremists if it would put their life at risk, according to a new Foreign Ministry report.
In light of the hostage crisis earlier this year in which two Japanese were killed by the Islamic State militant group, a team of ministry officials headed by Parliamentary Vice Foreign Minister Kazuyuki Nakane compiled a set of safety measures for Japanese nationals living overseas or traveling abroad.
The report, submitted to Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, says the government can order a person to surrender their passport to prevent that individual from traveling abroad if authorities decide such a move "would likely pose an imminent threat to the life of the person due to capture by Islamic extremists, such as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant," another name for the Islamic State group.