Photos: Japanese hostages held by the Islamic State

A protester holding a photo of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto who was taken hostage by the Islamic State group appeals to the government to save Goto during a rally in front of the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo.   (Koji Sasahara / AP)

Japanese journalist Kenji Goto delivers a lecture during a symposium in Tokyo in October 2010.  (Japan Committee for the UNICEF/ AFP/Getty Images)

An anti-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe protester attends a rally with a sign in front of Abe’s official residence in Tokyo Sunday, Jan. 25.  (Koji Sasahara / AP)

Junko Ishido, mother of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto who was taken hostage by the Islamic State group, speaks during a press conference in Tokyo on Jan. 23.  (Koji Sasahara / AP)

Journalists gather outside the house of the parents of Haruna Yukawa, one of two Japanese hostages held by the Islamic State group and claimed to have been executed, in Chiba, near Tokyo.  (Shizuo Kambayashi / AP)

Shoichi Yukawa, center, father of Haruna Yukawa, one of two Japanese hostages held by the Islamic State group and believed to have been executed, speaks during an interview at his house in Chiba, near Tokyo.   (Yasuhiro Sugimoto / AP)

A sales clerk walks by television sets broadcasting a news about Japanese hostage Kenji Goto at an electronics store in Tokyo.  (Koji Sasahara / AP)

Muslims residing in Japan offer Friday prayers for the hostages at Tokyo Camii, the largest mosque in Japan on Jan. 23.  (Eugene Hoshiko / AP)

Muslims residing in Japan offer Friday prayers at Tokyo Camii, the largest mosque in Japan on Jan. 23.  (Eugene Hoshiko / AP)

A Syrian tour guide holds a mobile phone screen displaying a video image of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto filmed by the guide in October 2014.  (Masaya Kurosaki / AP)

People look at a large TV screen on Jan. 20 in Tokyo showing news reports about two Japanese men who have been kidnapped by the Islamic State group.  (AFP/Getty Images)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a press conference as the Japanese government called on the U.S. as well as European and Middle Eastern countries to help save the two Japanese men held by the Islamic State.  (Franck Robichon / EPA)