French Woman Missing in Eastern Japan

August 6, 2018

Utsunomiya, Tochigi Pref.- A 36-year-old French woman who visited Nikko in the eastern Japan prefecture of Tochigi for sightseeing has been missing since July 29, according to the local police.

The Tochigi prefectural police department is investigating the woman's whereabouts, seeing that she may have gotten involved in an incident or an accident.

The woman, Veron Tiphaine Marie Alix, arrived in Japan by herself in the evening of July 27 and checked in for two nights at a hotel in Nikko on the following day.

As she did not return after leaving the hotel in the morning of July 29, the hotel reported the matter to the police department.

Based on a memo left at her hotel room and other information, police officers searched areas including those around the Nikko Toshogu shrine, a popular tourist destination. But they have yet to find clues to her whereabouts.

The woman's suitcase was left at the hotel. She was planning to stay in Japan until around mid-August and apparently did not have any plans to meet with someone in the country.

She has an illness that can make her faint or feel groggy when she is not taking her medication, according to the police.

The woman is 165 centimeters tall and has brown hair. She was wearing a jacket over a short-sleeve shirt and was carrying a shoulder bag when she left the hotel. Jiji Press