Early on the morning of Feb. 1, 2015, Japan woke to the news that Japanese freelance journalist Kenji Goto, held hostage by Islamic State militants, had been beheaded.

Fast-forward two years: Has the Japanese government learned anything from the hostage crisis that claimed two of the nation's own?

Fellow freelance journalist Kosuke Tsuneoka, who also visits the Middle East, believes Goto's death should serve as a lesson about how the roles and responsibilities Japan must accept on the global stage.