Following the terrorist attack last week in Bangladesh that left seven Japanese among the nearly 30 people — hostages, security personnel and perpetrators — who were killed, Japan's government is facing the harsh reality that it lacks the capacity to ensure the safety of its citizens from terrorism abroad.
The attack in an upscale Dhaka restaurant resulted in the largest number of Japanese casualties in an act of terrorism since 10 Japanese were killed during a hostage crisis at a natural gas plant in Algeria in 2013.
The Japanese government has found no easy answer to tackling the threat of the Islamic State militant group, which claimed responsibility for the attack at a restaurant and bakery frequented by expatriates in the Bangladeshi capital.