A new image believed to be that of freelance journalist Jumpei Yasuda, who went missing in Syria last year, surfaced Sunday night, depicting a bearded man holding a sign in Japanese saying “Please help. This is the last chance.” 
 
 The image was sent to multiple media outlets by a Syrian man claiming to be a mediator for the group that is believed to be holding the 42-year-old. 
 
 The Syrian asserts that Yasuda is being held by the Nusra Front, an al-Qaida-linked militant group in Syria, and that the photo was taken by the group on Saturday. 
 
 The man in the image is wearing an orange shirt and sports a long beard and hair. The handwritten message he is holding is signed “Jumpei Yasuda.” 
 
 The same Syrian posted a video on Facebook in March indicating Yasuda could be a hostage of militants in Syria. The Syrian told The Japan Times at the time that the video was received from a person representing the Nusra Front. 
 
 The man also said the group had repeatedly contacted the Japanese government to seek a ransom in exchange for Yasuda’s release, and that the video was released after Tokyo demanded proof he was alive and being detained by the group. 
 
 According to the Syrian man, the Nusra Front has threatened to hand Yasuda over to Islamic State militants if the Japanese government won’t negotiate. 
 
 Following the photo’s release, officials in the Japanese government said they were stepping up efforts to gather the latest information on the situation. 
 
 Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said the government was analyzing the new photo and believed it is in fact of Yasuda, while Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said officials are doing everything they can. 
 
 “As preserving the safety of Japanese citizens is our most important duty, we are making use of a broad net of information and doing everything we can to respond,” Suga told a news conference. 
 
 Asked if this means contacting the Nusra Front, Suga said “that sort of thing was included” but declined to give further details. 
 
 The government also decided to speed up information gathering as it held a director general-level meeting of related ministries and agencies headed by Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for Crises Yasuhiko Nishimura, government sources said. 
 
 The police have also started analyzing the image, believing it to be that of Yasuda, a senior official said. 

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 / Updated By Arata Yamamoto 
 
 TOKYO, Japan — A new photograph purporting to show a Japanese journalist believed to be held in Syria was circulated to local media Monday by a person claiming to be a mediator for his captors. 
 
 Jumpei Yasuda disappeared in June 2015. 
 
 In the new photo, the freelance reporter is shown dressed in an orange shirt and holding up a sign in Japanese that reads: “Please help me. This is the last chance.” 
 
 The undated picture, released by Japan's Jiji Press news agency, purports to show Jumpei Yasuda holding a handwritten message. JIJI PRESS / AFP - Getty Images 
 
 Japan’s foreign minister, Fumio Kushida, told reporters: “We believe the image is of Mr. Yasuda himself. But I would like to refrain from commenting any further.” 
 
 The Kyodo news agency said the image was circulated by a person who asserted that Yasuda was being held by the Nusra Front, an al Qaeda-linked militant group in Syria. 
 
 NBC News was unable to verify the authenticity of the photo or under what circumstances it was taken. 
 
 Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga declined to comment Monday when asked whether the government had made contact with the Nusra Front. 
 
 “Ensuring the safety of our nationals is the most important responsibility of our government and we are continuing to do our utmost by making use of the various information networks,” he said. 
 
 The photo comes after a video was posted online in March in which a man claiming to be Yasuda was shown speaking in English: “To my country, when you’re sitting there, where you are, in a dark room, suffering with pain, there still no one. No one answering. No one responding.” 
 
 Yasuda’s whereabouts have been the subject of speculation since he disappeared near the Syrian border in June 2015. 
 
 Jumpei Yasuda, pictured in this undated photo released by Japan's Kyodo news agency in December 2015. KYODO / Reuters 
 
 In December, the non-profit organization Reporters Without Borders posted on its website that Yasuda had allegedly been detained by an armed group affiliated with Nusra Front, but it later retracted the information. 

 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Jumpei Yasuda, pictured here before he went to Syria, went missing shortly after crossing over from Turkey 
 
 Japan says it believes in the authenticity of a newly released photo purporting to show a Japanese journalist held hostage in Syria. 
 
 The image, posted online on Sunday, shows a heavily bearded Jumpei Yasuda holding a sign saying: "Please help me. This is my last chance." 
 
 Mr Yasuda is believed to have been seized by the jihadist group al-Nusra Front, allied to al-Qaeda, in July. 
 
 Japan's government said it was doing everything it could to help him. 
 
 Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday: "We believe the photo is of Yasuda." 
 
 Cabinet Spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the government was "making use of a broad net of information and doing everything we can to respond". 
 
 In March, a video emerged of Mr Yasuda apparently accusing the Japanese government of ignoring him. 
 
 Last year, the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria beheaded Japanese war correspondent Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa, leading to accusations that Japan had not done enough to save them. 
 
 Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted an unnamed source claiming to be a mediator for the Nusra Front saying Mr Yasuda would be passed to IS if the government did not negotiate.
– Japanese journalist Jumpei Yasuda vanished last June while near the Syrian border. Now a Syrian man connected to his alleged captors on Sunday released a photo that Japan's foreign minister says the country believes "is of Mr. Yasuda himself." In the photo, a man with long hair and a heavy beard holds a sign whose Japanese characters read, "Please help me. This is the last chance." The message is signed "Jumpei Yasuda," reports the Japan Times. The minister had no further comments, but NBC News reports by way of the Kyodo news agency that the photo's source said the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front is holding Yasuda in Syria. The Syrian man has reportedly said that the Nusra Front will transfer Yasuda to ISIS if the government doesn't play ball; the group reportedly wants a ransom to be paid. The BBC notes it's a sensitive situation for the country, which was accused of not going the distance last year when it came to saving journalist Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa, who were beheaded by ISIS early last year. (Goto's tweet against hate made waves after his death.)