Highlight: Mika Yamamoto — The Tragic Story of a Heroic Journalist

On this present day (August 20) 10 years in the past, Mika Yamamoto and her boyfriend and colleague Kazutaka Sato have been touring in a van with the Free Syrian Military in Aleppo, Syria’s second largest metropolis. The couple have been masking the civil warfare within the space for Nippon TV once they have been out of the blue caught in the midst of an armed battle between Syrian opposition and pro-government forces. Yamamoto was shot within the neck. Tragically, her dying was confirmed at a close-by hospital shortly after. She was simply 45.

“Mika was enormously respected amongst journalists as a result of she pursued an actual mission. If solely her identify was extra broadly recognized throughout her life. Sadly, it’s her dying that has made her a nationwide determine,” Yamamoto’s buddy and fellow information correspondent Miyuki Hokugou informed Time magazines. So, who was this heroic reporter who commonly risked her life to presentde information protection in warfare zones? On this month’s Highlight we glance again on the lifetime of Yamamoto, one among Japan’s bravest information journalists.

Yamamoto wished to present a voice to suppressed females inside Afghanistan | COPYRIGHT (C) JessicaGirvan/Shutterstock

Background

Born in Tsuru, Yamanashi Prefecture on Might 26, 1967, Yamamoto was the second of her mother and father’ three daughters. Her father was a journalist for the Asahi Shimbun and from a younger age she was decided to comply with him down the same profession path. And so she did, becoming a member of the Asahi Newstar as a reporter in 1990. A proficient video journalist and director for documentaries and information packages, it wasn’t lengthy earlier than Yamamoto was attracting curiosity from different media shops.

In 1996, she joined the Japan Press, an impartial media group primarily based in Tokyo. This was when her profession as a warfare correspondent started. From the mid-Nineteen Nineties onwards, Yamamoto reported on the entrance line in areas similar to Bosnia, Kosovo and Chechnya. Utilizing her handheld digital camera, she did greater than merely describe what was occurring. Her intention was to present a voice to folks that have been usually ignored, notably girls and youngsters.

A topic she was notably obsessed with was the suppression of females inside Afghanistan. Yamamoto first visited the Islamic nation in 1996 and continued going again yearly, even after the US invasion in 2001. “I requested myself what points there have been that few individuals lined, which wanted to be communicated however weren’t given sufficient consideration, and what areas have been very tough for individuals to get to, which wanted to be lined and reported on however weren’t,” she as soon as mentioned at a lecture at Waseda College.

Yamamoto was within the Palestine Lodge in Baghdad when it was attacked in 2003 | COPYRIGHT (C) Rasool Ali/Shutterstock

A Harmful Occupation

The brave journalist was conscious of the dangers concerned in her job. She was contracted by Japan Press to cowl warfare zones for main publications and TV networks that weren’t ready to ship their very own full-time employees due to the hazards related to the work. Previous to her dying, the scariest second got here in April 2003, when she was staying on the Palestine Lodge in Baghdad, Iraq.

It was the constructing wherein many of the overseas media within the metropolis have been primarily based. American forces fired a tank shell that hit the fifteenth flooring balcony of the resort being utilized by Reuters. The information company’s Ukrainian-born photographer Taras Protsyuk and Spanish cameraman Jose Couso of Telecinco tv have been killed within the assault. The 2 troopers involved, Sergeant Shawn Gibson and Captain Philip Wolford mentioned they believed they have been firing on enemy troops.

Yamamoto was within the adjoining room to the one which was hit. She rapidly rushed subsequent door to see what was occurring and to test on the injured. Within the rapid aftermath of the shelling her voice could be heard frantically crying out for assist. on the identical day, Al-Jazeera’s media station on the opposite facet of the river from the Palestine Lodge was additionally hit by American forces. Reporter Tareq Ayoub died in consequence.

Yamamoto set off to Tohoku quickly after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami | COPYRIGHT (C) FLY_AND_DIVE/SHUTTERSTOCK

Recognition and Reporting on Forgotten Victims

In 2004, Yamamoto was awarded the Vaughn-Uyeda Memorial Worldwide Journalistic Prize for her protection of the warfare in Iraq. Named in honor of former United Press Vice President Miles W. Vaughn and Sekizo Uyeda, former president of Dentsu promoting company, it’s conferred yearly on journalists “who’ve made distinctive contributions to the promotion of worldwide understanding via their reporting.”

Given her intensive experiences in war-ravaged areas, it was then no shock Yamamoto was chosen to be a visitor lecturer at Waseda College’s journalism college and her Alma mater, Tsuru College. In response to Waseda Professor Shiro Segawa, she was “an individual who excelled not solely as a journalist, but in addition as an educator.” Settling for a life within the classroom, although, was by no means an choice. She felt it was her responsibility to be on the market, on the forefront of the motion, reporting on forgotten victims.

9 days after the Nice East Japan earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, she set off to Ishinomaki, Kesennuma and Miyako to interview individuals affected by the catastrophe. “Information media all through Japan have been utilizing each attainable means to assemble and report data, however there have been nonetheless locations that have been deserted, areas that have been remoted,” she mentioned. “So, I assumed I might collect data to fill in these gaps.”

Yamamoto’s Demise and Legacy

One other main information occasion in March 2011 was the beginning of the Syrian civil warfare. Bashar al-Assad’s authorities confronted an unprecedented problem to its authority with demonstrations going down nationwide. Police, navy and paramilitary forces suppressed the protests with violence. This quickly expanded right into a fully-fledged warfare. Yamamoto and her companion Sato have been despatched to cowl the battle for Nippon TV. It was an task that might ultimately result in her dying.

On that fateful day on August 20, 2012, Sato remembers 10 to fifteen males strolling in direction of them. “At first I assumed it was the Free Syrian Military and we have been on the identical facet, so I held up my digital camera and began capturing,” he informed CNN. “It was then that it occurred. I assumed I used to be going to be hit and that is after I was separated from Mika… I must know what occurred to her. Mika was one of the best a part of my skilled and private life. She was my proper hand, my left hand, my every little thing. I don’t know what to do now she’s now not right here.”

Yamamoto was the fourth overseas journalist killed within the Syrian Conflict and the primary from Japan. On Might 3, 2013, she was posthumously awarded the World Press Freedom Hero prize by the Worldwide Press Institute. The Mika Yamamoto Worldwide Journalist Award was additionally established in her honor. It’s offered yearly to people working in journalism (whether or not via video, image or print) who exemplify her spirit.