這篇路透社報導提到，後藤健二在九零年代受洗成為基督徒，多次表達宗教信仰跟他所從事工作的關係。此次前往敘利亞，據傳是為了營救他的朋友即另一名人質湯川遙菜。

陳真
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IS人質後藤健二：熱血關懷戰地兒童的獨立新聞人

風傳媒 2015/01/22

恐怖組織「伊斯蘭國」綁架兩名日本人質，要脅日本政府在23日中午以前交出兩億美元（約合新台幣63億）贖金，否則就要處決人質。眼看期限將屆，日本政府目前正為如何營救人質傷透腦筋，但為何會有日本人落入「伊斯蘭國」手中？兩名人質湯川遙菜、後藤健二，又是什麼身份呢？

關注困苦兒童處境的可敬新聞人

現年47歲的後藤健二是宮城縣仙台市人，1991年從法政大學畢業後就在媒體界任職，多前往非洲、中東等動亂地區取材。後藤在1990年代受洗，成為基督教徒。1996年成立Independent Press，專門報導世界各地處於困苦之中的兒童處境。他根據戰地採訪經驗寫成的《比起鑽石，我更想要和平：童兵心聲》（ダイヤモンドより平和がほしい？子ども兵士？ムリアの告白）一書，則拿下產經兒童出版文化賞的富士電視台獎。

後藤健二長年關心動亂地區的兒童，他在Independent Press網站的自我介紹中表示，戰亂、難民、貧困、愛滋病、兒童教育是他的關注所在。除了供稿給《朝日新聞》、NHK等日本新聞媒體，後藤也常應邀擔任國際新聞的評論人，在各級學校演講國際局勢與國際新聞動態。後藤也為聯合國兒童基金會、聯合國難民署等單位，提供非營利的媒體支援工作。

「日本的各位，請不要責怪敘利亞的人民」

《朝日新聞》報導，後藤似乎知道他這次深入「伊斯蘭國」凶多吉少，他在一段短片中表示：「這都是我自己的責任，日本的各位請不要責怪敘利亞的人民，拜託了。我一定會活著回來的。」由於後藤曾說要到敘利亞救出湯川，因此許多日媒都認為後藤此次深入「伊斯蘭國」地域，就是要尋找湯川下落。後藤曾與神戶學院教授杉木明子約定，要在11月3日到5日回信，但最後失約。杉木推測，後藤可能認為這個時間他就可以離開敘利亞，可惜因為嚮導背叛而落入絕境。

為敘利亞民眾募款奔走演說的後藤健二。（聯合國兒童基金會網站）
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Japanese reporter's bid to save friend led to Islamic State abduction

BY ANTONI SLODKOWSKI

TOKYO Wed Jan 21, 2015

(Reuters) - It is an unlikely friendship that ties the fates of war correspondent Kenji Goto and troubled loner Haruna Yukawa, the two Japanese hostages for which Islamic State militants demanded a $200 million ransom this week.

Yukawa was captured in August outside Aleppo. Goto, who had returned to Syria in late October to try to help his friend, had been missing since then.

For Yukawa, who dreamed of becoming a military contractor, traveling to Syria had been part of an effort to turn his life around after going bankrupt, losing his wife to cancer and attempting suicide, according to associates and his own accounts.

A unit at Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been seeking information on him since August, people involved in that effort said. Goto’s disappearance had not been reported until Tuesday's video apparently showing him and Yukawa kneeling in orange t-shirts next to a masked Islamic State militant wielding a knife.

Yukawa first met Goto in Syria in April and asked him to take him to Iraq. He wanted to know how to operate in a conflict zone. They went together in June.

""He was hapless and didn't know what he was doing. He needed someone with experience to help him,"" Goto told Reuters in August.

Yukawa then returned to Syria in July on his own. Goto, 47, returned to Japan. Yukawa's subsequent abduction haunted Goto, who felt he had to do something to help the man, a few years his junior.

""I need to go there at least once and see my fixers and ask them what the current situation is. I need to talk to them face to face. I think that's necessary,"" Goto said, referring to locals who work freelance for foreign correspondents, setting up meetings and helping with the language.

Goto began working as a full-time war correspondent in 1996 and had established a reputation as a careful and reliable operator for Japanese broadcasters, including NHK.

""He understood what he had to do and he was cautious,"" said Naomi Toyoda, who reported with him from Jordan in the 1990s.

Goto, who converted to Christianity in 1997, also spoke of his faith in the context of his job.

""I have seen horrible places and have risked my life, but I know that somehow God will always save me,"" he said in a May article for the Japanese publication Christian Today. But he told the same publication that he never risked anything dangerous, citing a passage in the Bible, ""Do not put the Lord your God to the test.""

In October, Goto's wife had a baby, the couple's second child. He has an older daughter from a previous marriage, people who know the family said.

Around the same time, he made plans to leave for Syria and uploaded several short video clips to his Twitter feed, one showing him with media credentials issued by anti-government rebels in Aleppo.

On Oct. 22, he emailed an acquaintance, a high school teacher, to say he planned to be back in Japan at the end of the month.

Friends say he traveled from Tokyo to Istanbul and traveled from there to Syria, sending a message on Oct. 25 that he had crossed the border and was safe.

""Whatever happens, this is my responsibility,"" Goto said on a video recorded shortly before he set out for Raqqa, the capital of the Islamic State.

That was the last time he was seen before the IS video this week.