Japan Syria Journalists
Flight crew members stand watch as the coffin containing the body of Japanese journalist Mika Yamamoto is unloaded upon arrival at Narita internation...
Flight crew members stand watch as the coffin containing the body of Japanese journalist Mika Yamamoto is unloaded upon arrival at Narita international airport from Istanbul in Narita, east of Tokyo, Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012. Yamamoto, a veteran war correspondent with The Japan Press, an independent TV news provider that specializes in conflict zone coverage, was shot dead while covering the civil war in Syria. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
Japan Syria Journalists
The coffin containing the body of Japanese journalist Mika Yamamoto arrives at Narita international airport from Istanbul in Narita, east of Tokyo, S...
The coffin containing the body of Japanese journalist Mika Yamamoto arrives at Narita international airport from Istanbul in Narita, east of Tokyo, Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012. Yamamoto, a veteran war correspondent with The Japan Press, an independent TV news provider that specializes in conflict zone coverage, was shot dead while covering the civil war in Syria. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
The body of Mika Yamamoto, the veteran Japanese journalist killed while covering the civil war in Syria, has returned to Japan from the Mideast.
Her coffin was unloaded from a Turkish Airlines aircraft Saturday as the pilot and crew saluted her, and airport officials observed a moment of silence.
Yamamoto's two sisters, as well as colleague Kazutaka Sato, were aboard the same flight from Istanbul.
Yamamoto and Sato, both with independent TV news provider The Japan Press, were traveling with the Free Syrian Army in the northwestern city of Aleppo on Monday when Yamamoto was fatally wounded in crossfire between rebels and government forces.
Sato said the 45-year-old's body will be handed over to Japanese police for an autopsy for further investigation, before a wake and a funeral are held.
