Kenji Nagai facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kenji Nagai
長井 健司 |
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| Born | August 27, 1957 Imabari, Ehime, Japan
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| Died | September 27, 2007 (aged 50) |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wound |
| Occupation | Photojournalist |
| Known for | Being the only foreign national killed in the Saffron Revolution |
Kenji Nagai (長井 健司, Nagai Kenji, August 27, 1957 – September 27, 2007) was a Japanese photojournalist who took many assignments to conflict zones and dangerous areas around the world.
He was shot dead in Myanmar (also known as Burma) during the Saffron Revolution. Nagai continued to take photographs as he lay wounded on the ground, later dying from gunshot injuries to the chest. He was the only foreign national killed in the protests.
Contents
Background
Kenji Nagai grew up in Imabari, Ehime, Japan, and graduated from Imabari Nishi High School. Nagai attended Tokyo Keizai University (東京経済大学), and after graduation he studied abroad in the United States for a year. After his return to Japan, Nagai held a part-time job before embarking upon his career as a freelance journalist. Working as a contract photojournalist for Tokyo's AFP News, Nagai was accustomed to traveling to dangerous places in the Middle East. From 1997 until his death, Nagai took assignments in Afghanistan, Cambodia, the Palestinian territories, and Iraq, taking photographs that captured the essence of war.
Nagai arrived in Myanmar two days before the government began attacking Buddhist monks protesting against the military junta that has ruled the country since deposing the democratic government in a 1962 coup d'état. The protests originally began when the government raised the price of fuel, but grew into mass demonstrations in the tens of thousands, with Buddhist monks leading pro-democracy marches in the streets of Yangon. According to The Times, an associate of Nagai's said he was "relentless" when it came to covering a story, believing that he had to travel to "the places nobody wants to go".
Death
Nagai had been in Myanmar covering the anti-government protests since Tuesday, September 25. On Thursday, September 27, Nagai was photographing the protests near the Traders Hotel, a few blocks away from the Sule Pagoda in downtown Yangon, when soldiers opened fire on demonstrators, killing Nagai and reportedly injuring another foreign journalist.
Reports initially stated that Nagai was hit by stray bullets fired by soldiers or possibly shot from the front. The "stray bullet" explanation was proposed by the government of Myanmar as an explanation for Nagai's death. However, video footage obtained by Japanese television appears to show a Burmese soldier shoving Nagai to the ground and shooting him at point-blank range. A still image photographed by Adrees Latif showed the soldier standing over Nagai, who was sprawled on the ground and still clutching his camera. This photograph appeared on the front page of The New York Times on September 28, 2007. A subsequent shot showed Nagai's body sprawled in the street as the soldier walked away. Judging from the patch, the soldier responsible is believed to be from one of the Light Infantry Divisions (possibly LID 66) in charge of crowd control in Yangon at the time of protests. At the Japanese embassy in Myanmar, a physician established the trajectory of the fatal bullet that killed Nagai, determining that the bullet entered Nagai's chest from the lower right side and pierced his heart before exiting from his back.
On October 8, new footage showing a Burmese soldier apparently confiscating a fallen Nagai's video camera was revealed on a Japanese news show. Adrees Latif's photograph, depicting Nagai sprawled on the pavement before his death, won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography in 2008.
Kenji Nagai Award
The Burma Media Association established an award in Nagai's memory. The award aims to recognize individuals who have reported the truth about Myanmar. The first award, in 2009, was presented to Eint Khaing Oo, a Burmese female journalist.
See also
In Spanish: Kenji Nagai para niños
- International reaction to the 2007 Burmese anti-government protests
- Hiro Muramoto, cameraman and journalist shot by a soldier in Bangkok, 2010
- Lucas Dolega, photojournalist shot by police in Tunis, 2012
