Yesterday, a video allegedly uploaded by ISIS demanded that the Japanese government pay $200 million for two hostages. In it, a cloaked man waving a knife told the Japanese people to pressure their government to pay or the men would die. Online, the country's Twitter users have responded. With a meme.
The political reality here is very, very grim. One of the captured men, Haruna Yukawa, went to the Middle East, after his life in Japan fell apart. The other man, journalist Kenji Goto Jogo, went to Syria to get him out. Previously, however, Jogo said, "If anything happens, I take full responsibility."
With a deadline ticking away, many Japanese Twitter users have decided to stand up against the ISIS demands that they pressure their government and, as The Japan Times reports, have decided to "mock" the terrorists.