Japanese police seek info on French woman who vanished in Nikko in 2018

After 6 years, why suddenly they take action now?

The move comes after the U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances urged the Japanese government last month to provide detailed investigative information and enhance cooperation with French authorities,

The U.N. committee noted that Japan had not shared any information on plans to search for the woman, seeking a response by Sept. 10, according to the letter dated June 10 obtained by Kyodo News

That explain, why.

Not unusual for Japanese police to NOT share info, don't know the reason but it CAN'T be helpful, private investigators and the general public can be of great assistance and so sharing data is one of the key elements of solving any crime.

I know for a fact that people can't even get a copy of a criminal police report!??

No File number, No Summery report, NOTHING so you can't even go back and revisit a report or follow up because you get nothing to refer to.

It is becoming harder to vanish in Japan than it used to be. but still possible. Unless there is some specific indicator of foul play, police in Japan will protect the privacy of missing persons as many, many are woman who have fled domestic violence. The default position is, police are not going to share information with a family on a missing woman to protect the woman.

Not sharing information means they don't have any information and they're embarrassed about the lack of progress...typical. The mere fact that they're handing out fliers on Monday shows that they don't have a lead. They'll respond by saying that they can't share information about an ongoing investigation.

Not sharing information means they don't have any information

No it doesn’t.

"We are expecting Japan to finally respond properly to the U.N. request," he said, adding he has contacted French President Emmanuel Macron.

I think Macron has other things on his mind.

Many Japanese are also missing. Why is the French woman getting special treatment?

This one stumps me. A foreign national disappears in Japan and nothing much is done. It's hard for me to understand why the police didn't try everything, including cooperating with the family and with France. Yes, many people go missing in Japan, but this one I don't understand.

You would think under the circumstances, attaching a picture of the woman to this story would be appropriate.

A U.S. woman trekking in April 2023 also went missing.

—

https://japantoday.com/category/national/connecticut-woman-missing-since-april-10-after-going-on-hiking-pilgrimage-in-japan-1?

Aren't there companies in Japan who make a business of helping (mainly victims of domestic abuse/violence) to "evaporate"? I hope all such victims and Mlle Veron are in places of safety, enjoying peaceful, happy lives.

Some 85,000 people were reported missing in 2022. Every year the number is enormous. The police are doing what they can but as in all police forces, they must apply a triage approach to resolving these difficult cases.

This is a classic case of the victim's relatives in wanting to do everything they can, involving outside entities on the premise that the police are not doing enough. Bringing in a UN body which has no jurisdiction in Japan and to which a police dept in Japan has no legal responsibility to report doesn't help.

From my experience the use of a Private investigator, which are abundant in Japan, and are constantly searching for missing persons, would be a better approach.

Some 85,000 people were reported missing in 2022. Every year the number is enormous. The police are doing what they can but as in all police forces, they must apply a triage approach to resolving these difficult cases. 

This is a classic case of the victim's relatives in wanting to do everything they can, involving outside entities on the premise that the police are not doing enough. Bringing in a UN body which has no jurisdiction in Japan and to which a police dept in Japan has no legal responsibility to report doesn't help. 

From my experience the use of a Private investigator, which are abundant in Japan, and are constantly searching for missing persons, would be a better approach.

Reads like it was drafted by a government official. Care to share your affiliation?

Some 85,000 people were reported missing in 2022. 

The location was eventually confirmed on most of those, wasn’t it?

And most were disease-related, weren’t they?

The person died, an acquaintance reported them missing, and they were later confirmed dead. Isn’t that correct?

TirionToday  12:34 pm JST

Aren't there companies in Japan who make a business of helping (mainly victims of domestic abuse/violence) to "evaporate"? I hope all such victims and Mlle Veron are in places of safety, enjoying peaceful, happy lives.

Nice thought but Tiphaine Veron was a tourist, so it’s highly doubtful that she, as a white, European woman, who probably wasn’t fluent in Japanese, was going to use a yonige-ya to “disappear”.

OssanAmerica

Some 85,000 people were reported missing in 2022. Every year the number is enormous. The police are doing what they can but as in all police forces, they must apply a triage approach to resolving these difficult cases. 

This is a classic case of the victim's relatives in wanting to do everything they can, involving outside entities on the premise that the police are not doing enough. Bringing in a UN body which has no jurisdiction in Japan and to which a police dept in Japan has no legal responsibility to report doesn't help. 

From my experience the use of a Private investigator, which are abundant in Japan, and are constantly searching for missing persons, would be a better approach.

What is this?

You write this ridiculous essay insinuating that 85,000 people in Japan every year are just magically disappearing, never to be found, and thus the hard-working police shouldn’t be troubled with the loss of one Frenchwoman.

Moreover, you suggest it’s foolish to involve the UN (because that just embarrasses the nation) and it would be best to use a private investigator, not troubling the police.

And you offer this comment … Why? What’s your motive? Who do you represent?

This reminds me of the Lucie Blackman case.

She disappeared in July, 2000.

She was found seven months later.

@Ligger2

Are you being sarcastic? It’s been 6 years, not 7 months.

Unless they find remains, it reminds me more of the US woman who also disappeared last year without a trace.

I wouldn't hold my breath with regards the involvement of the U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances..... the U.N. is universally renowned as being one of the most useless and ineffective organisations on this planet.

The police are very optimistic if they think that people can remember anything from 6 years ago.

This doesn't have anything to do with Russia. So beat your anti-Russia, anti-China drum elsewhere.

I never suggested the article did have anything to do with Russia (or China, for that matter) - I was drawing a comparison with the ineptness of the U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances in their handling of cases brought to their attention.

I would be obliged if you phrased your comments in a more considerate and polite manner, especially as the essence of what you stated missed the point of my post completely.

In the interests of civilised intellectual debate, I refer you to my previous comment:

"I would be obliged if you phrased your comments in a more considerate and polite manner".

Why isn't Japan cooperating with the UN?

sakurasukiJuly 30 07:33 am JST

After 6 years, why suddenly they take action now?

It is likely the final step for the Japanese police to admit 'we tried all what we could, but we don't know where she is, we don't know what happened to her' and move all and everything what is known about her so far into archives - case will remain unsolved.

Gene HennighJuly 30 10:26 am JST

This one stumps me. A foreign national disappears in Japan and nothing much is done. It's hard for me to understand why the police didn't try everything,

What should police really do? They can only ask around among locals if somebody knows something...or found anything etc.

There is a summary about her case...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Tiphaine_Véron

Nothing was found, just nothing, despite her last position was known because of her cellphone which suddenly stopped to response to Google Map around 11:40 AM.

CCTV footage caught her heading to her hotel in Nikkō, the Turtle Inn Nikko, from the train station that day.

On 29 July, five witnesses saw Tiphaine eating breakfast at the hotel. She then left to go sightsee, as she had planned to do. Tiphaine never returned to her hotel, and the owner filed a missing person report the following day.

From 7 to 17 May 2019, a search was carried out by mountain rescue experts but yielded no results.

In August 2019, a new search, consisting of five volunteers and seven dogs from Japan Rescue Dog was organized, but that too was fruitless.

>

Asiaman7July 30 12:26 pm JST

A U.S. woman trekking in April 2023 also went missing.

This case, and I think still not solved too, happened in Wakayama-ken, hiking trail near Koya.

https://japantoday.com/category/national/connecticut-woman-missing-since-april-10-after-going-on-hiking-pilgrimage-in-japan-1?

What is so strange with these two cases is that these two persons were hiking around during daytime in an area, which is not remote located at all, but frequently used by many people.