Isis Japanese hostages
In response to IS' request of ransom to spare the life of two Japanese hostages held in Syria, Japanese netizens have engaged in an online Photoshop competition featuring Jihadi John and the two captives

Japanese people have reacted to news that two of their compatriots face beheading at the hands of the Islamic State (Isis) by creating photoshopped images of Jihadi John and the hostages.

Jihadi John is an IS militant featured in several videos killing kidnapped American civilians. He recently appeared in a video with two Japanese hostages, Kenji Goto, 47, and Haruna Yukawa, 45.

In the latest video, Jihadi John demands a $200m (£133m) ransom be paid within 72 hours to spare the lives of the two captives.

The mother of Goto publicly pleaded IS to release her son as the 72-hour deadline expired on Friday (23 January).

Meanwhile, dozens of Japanese netizens have taken to Twitter to engage in a Photoshop competition featuring images of the militants and the captives under the hashtag #ISISクソコラグランプリ, translated as "ISIS Crap Photoshop Grand Prix".