With only one presumed day left to save the lives of two Japanese hostages, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Thursday the government had been unable to make contact with the Islamic State group.
A masked militant with a knife declared in a video on Tuesday that Tokyo had 72 hours to pay a $200 million ransom for their release.
"No, we haven't received any contact" from the radical Islamist group, Suga told a news conference.