ABSTRACT
The story of Shosei Koda’s visit to Iraq is an ultimately tragic story. It starts innocently enough: a journey by bus from Amman to Baghdad, a popular route covered over the years by many a seasoned traveler. What was unusual about Koda’s experience was its timing: October 2004, or nineteen months into the American counterinsurgency war that followed the deposition of Saddam Hussein. Despite the violence tearing the country apart, the 24-year-old Koda, a Japanese national, was determined to tour Iraq, stubbornly rejecting the counsel of both locals and diplomats aware of the grave danger tourists could face. His stay in the war-torn capital was brief. Unable to find lodging in an inexpensive hotel – such facilities had, for security reasons, ceased accepting foreigners – and unable to afford a room in one of the more secure international hotels in the city, Koda reportedly mulled away the time by wandering about, waiting for a bus that would eventually return him to Jordan. It was not long before he was kidnapped by forces hostile to the American occupation. Following the release of an online video in which he unsuccessfully pleaded for the withdrawal from Iraq of Japanese troops, Koda’s journey reached its end: his headless body was discovered in central Baghdad resting under an American flag (Worth and Brooke 2004; Koda Found Dead in Baghdad 2004).
