TOKYO — Lacking clout and diplomatic reach in the Middle East, Japan scrambled Thursday for ways to secure the release of two hostages held by Islamic State terrorists, as two people with contacts there offered to try to negotiate.
The terrorist group threatened in a video message to kill the hostages within 72 hours unless they receive $200 million. Based on the video’s release time, that deadline would expire Friday.
Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Thursday that Japan was trying all possible channels to reach those holding the hostages — 47-year-old freelance journalist Kenji Goto and 42-year-old Haruna Yukawa, the founder of a private security company.
Japan had not received any message from the Islamic State since the release of the video, Suga said.
The crisis is a test of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to expand Japan’s role in international affairs and raise the profile of its military. Tokyo lacks strong diplomatic connections in the Middle East, and Japanese diplomats left Syria as the civil war there escalated, adding to the difficulty of contacting the group holding the hostages.
Japan has sought and received offers of help from many countries, including Jordan, where Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Yasuhide Nakayama — an envoy sent by Abe — met with King Abdullah II.
