On 31 January 2015, he was beheaded by his captors led by Kuwaiti-British militant Jihadi John following the breakdown of negotiations for his release.

[4] After graduating from Hosei University in Tokyo in 1991, he worked for a media production company before establishing Independent Press in 1996.

[5] Reporting from war-torn countries around the world, especially in Africa and the Middle East, he focused on the life and humanity of the ordinary citizens in difficult times.

His works include books and DVDs on blood diamonds and child soldiers in Sierra Leone, the Rwandan conflict and its survivors, a teenage mother in an Estonian "AIDS village", and girls and education in Afghanistan.

[11] He appeared in a video released by IS militants on 20 January 2015, in which they demanded $200 million from the government of Japan for the lives of Goto and Yukawa.

On 29 January, Goto's wife, Rinko Jogo, released a plea to his captors through the Rory Peck Trust, a UK-based organization that supports freelance journalists.

The general public sentiment in Japan towards these hostages has been that they are to be blamed for putting themselves deliberately in harm's way, while the Japanese government and taxpayers are pressured to pay the price to get them back.