Slain Japanese journalist’s last Myanmar images shared after 15 years missing

A video camera that had been missing for more than 15 years after it was dropped by a Japanese journalist who was fatally shot during a street protest in Myanmar was handed over to his sister at a ceremony in Bangkok.

A video camera that had been missing for more than 15 years after it was dropped by a Japanese journalist who was fatally shot during a street protest in Myanmar was handed over on April 26 to his sister at a ceremony in Bangkok.

Kenji Nagai was recording the demonstration on September 27, 2007, in downtown Yangon — part of a peaceful anti-military uprising known as the Saffron Revolution — when soldiers arrived, dispersing the crowd with gunfire. The 50-year-old journalist, who was working for Japan's APF News, a small video and photo agency, was hit and mortally wounded. He was one of about 10 people killed that day.

Nagai's sister Noriko Ogawa received the small Sony Handycam from Aye Chan Naing, head of the Democratic Voice of Burma, a Myanmar media organisation which was involved in its recovery.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” she said. “This is a great surprise and joy for me, as I hadn't even had any information about the camera until now.”

The handover of the camera comes as Myanmar is in the grip of an upheaval far worse than that of 2007. A widespread, determined armed resistance has sprung up in response to the overthrow of Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government by the military in 2021. According to tallies kept by journalists in Myanmar, three of their local colleagues have been killed by the authorities since the army takeover and more than 150 detained. A handful of foreign journalists were also detained and later deported.

The camera when found still had the original tape inside it. Its contents were screened at Wednesday's event.

The images showed protesters and monks in the street close to Yangon's ancient Sule Pagoda, singing and chanting, with police blocking their way. Trucks full of soldiers then arrived, prompting Nagai to turn the camera on himself.