If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to [email protected]. Noriaki Imai, student environmental and peace activist. At 18 years of age, Noriaki Imai traveled to Iraq to study the effects of depleted uranium on Iraqi children. While in Iraq, he was taken hostage and threatened to be killed unless Japan withdrew its troops from Iraq. Fortunately, he was released alive, but when he returned home to Japan, he faced enormous public criticism.