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The Most Famous

JOURNALISTS from Japan

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This page contains a list of the greatest Japanese Journalists. The pantheon dataset contains 127 Journalists, 2 of which were born in Japan. This makes Japan the birth place of the 15th most number of Journalists behind Philippines and Spain.

Top 2

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Japanese Journalists of all time. This list of famous Japanese Journalists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of Kenji Goto

1. Kenji Goto (1967 - 2015)

With an HPI of 43.51, Kenji Goto is the most famous Japanese Journalist.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages on wikipedia.

Kenji Goto (後藤 健二, Gotō Kenji, 23 October 1967 – c. 31 January 2015) was a Japanese freelance video journalist covering wars and conflicts, refugees, poverty, AIDS, and child education around the world. In October 2014, he was captured and held hostage by Islamic State (IS) militants after entering Syria in the hopes of rescuing Japanese hostage Haruna Yukawa. On 30 January 2015, he was beheaded by his captors led by Jihadi John following the breakdown of negotiations for his release.

Photo of Kenji Nagai

2. Kenji Nagai (1957 - 2007)

With an HPI of 39.27, Kenji Nagai is the 2nd most famous Japanese Journalist.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

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.

Pantheon has 2 people classified as journalists born between 1957 and 1967. Of these 2, none of them are still alive today. The most famous deceased journalists include Kenji Goto and Kenji Nagai.

Deceased Journalists

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