Family and friends on Wednesday waited anxiously for news on the apparent release of journalist Jumpei Yasuda, who went missing in Syria in 2015, after the government said the previous night a man believed to be him had been freed.
"I'd do whatever it takes to see him again," Yasuda's father, Hideaki, 78, told reporters at his home in Iruma, Saitama Prefecture.
The 44-year-old journalist was apparently taken hostage by an al-Qaida-linked group after entering Syria to cover the country's bloody civil war. The government was working to verify if the freed man was indeed Yasuda after being informed Tuesday by Qatar about the release.