News On Japan

Missing British Girl, 12, Found Safe After Staying at Internet Cafe

TOKYO - A 12-year-old British girl who disappeared while visiting Japan with her family was found safe in Yokohama on Saturday night, about 59 hours after leaving their private lodging in Tokyo, with police saying there was no indication that she had been involved in a crime.

Carmelita Lakdesha Paul had been visiting Japan with her parents and older brother since July 21 and was staying at a private rental property in the Minami-Kamata area of Tokyo's Ota Ward.

Her family last saw her before going to bed. When they woke at around 8:30 a.m. on August 13, they discovered that she was gone, and her mother reported her missing to police shortly before 9:30 a.m.

The girl had left her mobile phone and passport at the accommodation and was believed to have only a few thousand yen with her, increasing concerns about how she would manage on her own.

Security camera footage examined by the Metropolitan Police Department showed her walking near the family's accommodation after leaving. Investigators subsequently traced her journey to Yokohama Station in neighboring Kanagawa Prefecture on the morning of August 13, but initially lost track of her movements after she arrived there.

Police issued a public appeal for information on August 14, releasing details to help locate her as the search continued.

At shortly after 8 p.m. on August 15, the girl went by herself to a police box in Yokohama and was taken into protective custody. She was unharmed.

Police said she told officers that she had spent time at an internet cafe while she was away from her family. Reports citing information about her movements also said she had gone to Yokohama to visit locations connected with anime that interested her.

The girl reportedly told officers that she had begun to miss her parents before deciding to seek help at the police box. She was subsequently reunited with her family.

Police have not disclosed exactly how long she stayed at the internet cafe or the circumstances under which she was able to use the facility. Authorities have said there was no evidence of criminal involvement in her disappearance.

Source: FNN

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Severe thunderstorms brought torrential rain, lightning, hail and a tornado to Hokkaido on August 28, disrupting rail and air travel and leaving some passengers stranded overnight at New Chitose Airport, as unstable atmospheric conditions triggered intense downpours across Japan.

Residents in Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures began clearing mud and debris on August 28 as authorities worked to restore access to communities cut off by landslides and flooding following torrential rain that prompted temporary Level 5 heavy rain emergency warnings a day earlier.

JR Kyushu plans to restore full service on the Kyushu Shinkansen from the first train on September 18, nearly two months after the Kumamoto earthquake caused extensive damage to tracks and stations and forced the suspension of services on part of the line.

A 9-minute, 13-second drone video filmed inside Aeon Mall Kumamoto two days after the deadly explosion has provided a detailed view of the destruction, showing collapsed ceilings, heavy dust and widespread damage that may have affected between one-third and nearly half of the shopping center.

Strong Typhoon No. 18 was moving northwest through the East China Sea on the night of August 26, gradually pulling away from Okinawa and the Amami Islands as lingering rain, strong winds and high waves were expected to ease. As of 9 p.m. on August 26, the typhoon was over waters north-northwest of Kume Island and moving northwest.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Society NEWS

A fake video apparently created with generative AI showing a large bear eating piles of sliced bread has spread on social media following a series of illegal bread dumping incidents in Tottori Prefecture, prompting the prefectural government to warn that misinformation could cause economic harm.

Three youths, including a high school student and a junior high school student, have been arrested on suspicion of obstructing police duties after allegedly stealing fire extinguishers and spraying them toward a police station in Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture.

Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese avant-garde artist whose obsessive dots, nets, pumpkins and mirrored rooms grew from intensely personal visions into some of the most recognizable images in contemporary art, died at a hospital in Tokyo on August 14, 2026, at the age of 97. Her death was announced on August 27 by companies representing the artist, which said she continued painting until her final days.

A Toei bus crashed into a traffic signal in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward on the morning of August 26 after the driver lost control of the steering wheel while trying to shoo away a mosquito, leaving two male passengers injured.

Kanazawa's fire department is asking residents not to straighten or rearrange shoes removed by paramedics during emergency calls, warning that the well-intentioned gesture can delay the transport of patients by around 30 seconds and potentially interfere with medical care.

Two men who stole four luxury watches worth a combined 200 million yen from a store at Tokyo's Nakano Broadway may have carefully planned the 10-second theft, with one suspect renting an electric kick scooter shortly before the crime and investigators examining whether the other man's escape on foot was intended as a decoy.

A 9-minute, 13-second drone video filmed inside Aeon Mall Kumamoto two days after the deadly explosion has provided a detailed view of the destruction, showing collapsed ceilings, heavy dust and widespread damage that may have affected between one-third and nearly half of the shopping center.

A series of mysterious illegal dumping incidents involving about 39 kilograms of sliced bread has been reported around Mount Daisen and other parts of Tottori Prefecture in August, with officials investigating whether the food may have been deliberately placed to attract wild animals.