
Japanese police seek info on French woman who vanished 7 years ago
Officers distributed flyers around Tobu Nikko Station and JR Nikko Station in Tochigi Prefecture, seeking details on the whereabouts of Tiphaine Veron after she went missing on July 29, 2018, at the age of 36.
"I am grateful that the police are distributing flyers," said Veron's brother Damien, 45, who also took part in handing them out. "I want the investigation to continue and for her to be found."
According to police, Veron went missing a day after checking in at her accommodation in Nikko, leaving her luggage and passport in her room.
The flyers were handed out in Japanese, French, English and Chinese.
"We hope that the flyers will spark interest," said Miko Obuchi, an official the Tochigi prefectural police. "The number of tips we receive has been decreasing every year, so we want everyone to check their smartphones for any photos that might provide clues about Ms. Veron."
She is about 165 centimeters in height with brown hair.
Information can be provided to the Nikko Police Station at 0288-53-0110.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Asahi Shimbun
23 minutes ago
- Asahi Shimbun
Japanese woman in China was attacked with a stone-like object in Suzhou
The bus stop in Suzhou, eastern China, where a knife-wielding man attacked a Japanese mother, her child and a Chinese woman on June 24, 2024 (Asahi Shimbun file photo) A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a Suzhou subway station, Japanese media outlets said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in both China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. The Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name but, citing the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai, said she was with her child inside a subway station when the attack took place. The child was not injured, and the mother had returned home after reportedly getting treated at a hospital, NHK reported. A phone call to the Suzhou Police went unanswered on Friday evening, and the local police were yet to release any official statement. But the Japanese news agency Kyodo said the suspect had been detained. In Tokyo earlier Thursday, two Chinese men were seriously injured in attacks, and four male assailants wielding unspecified weapons remained at large, according to a statement released by the Chinese Embassy in Japan. The identities of the assailants were unclear. The Chinese Embassy urged the Japanese authorities to take action to catch the assailants in the Tokyo attack and to ensure the safety and legal rights of Chinese citizens in Japan 'in response to the recent surge in xenophobic sentiment in Japanese society.' In southern China last September, a 10-year-old Japanese student died after being stabbed by a Chinese man not far from the gate of the Shenzhen Japanese School in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. The man was sentenced to death. In June 2024, a Japanese woman and her child were injured in an attack by a Chinese man, also in Suzhou. A Chinese bus attendant who tried to protect them from the attack was killed. The man was sentenced to death. On Friday, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China called for Chinese authorities to ensure Japanese citizens' safety and security in China. 'It is extremely regrettable that such an incident has happened again. Ensuring the safety of employees and their families is fundamental for doing business in China,' the statement said.


The Diplomat
an hour ago
- The Diplomat
A Rare, Direct Warning From Japan Signals a Shift in the Fight Against Child Sex Tourism in Asia
A Japanese restaurant owner's call to action shed light on the scourge of transnational child sex tourism – and forced Japan's government to respond. Japan's embassy in Laos and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs have issued a rare and unusually direct advisory, warning Japanese men against 'buying sex from children' in Laos. The move was sparked by Ayako Iwatake, a restaurant owner in Vientiane, who allegedly saw social media posts of Japanese men bragging about child prostitution. In response, she launched a petition calling for government action. The Japanese-language bulletin makes clear such conduct is prosecutable under both Laotian law and Japan's child prostitution and pornography law, which applies extraterritorially. This diplomatic statement was not only a legal warning. It was a rare public acknowledgement of Japanese men's alleged entanglement in transnational child sex tourism, particularly in Southeast Asia. It's also a moment that demands we look beyond individual criminal acts or any one nation and consider the historical, racial and structural inequalities that make such mobility and exploitation possible. A Changing Map of Exploitation Selling and buying sex in Asia is nothing new. The contours have shifted over time but the underlying sentiment has remained constant: some lives are cheap and commodified, and some wallets are deep and entitled. Japan's involvement in overseas prostitution stretches back to the Meiji period (1868-1912). Young women from impoverished rural regions (known as karayuki-san) migrated abroad, often to Southeast Asia, to work in the sex industry, from port towns in Malaya to brothels in China and the Pacific Islands. If poverty once pushed Japanese women abroad to sell their bodies, by the second half of the 20th century – fuelled by Japan's postwar economic boom – it was wealthy Japanese men who began travelling overseas to buy sex. Around the 2000s, the dynamic flipped again. In South Korea, now a developed economy, men travelled to Southeast Asia – and later to countries such as Russia and Uzbekistan – following routes once taken by Japanese men. Later in the same period, the flow took an even darker turn. Japanese and South Korean men began to emerge as major buyers of child sex abroad, particularly across Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands and even Mongolia. According to the United States Department of State, Japanese men continued to be 'a significant source of demand for sex tourism,' while South Korean men remained 'a source of demand for child sex tourism.' The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime and other organizations have also flagged both countries as key contributors to child sexual exploitation in the region. A more recent and troubling shift appears to be unfolding within Japan. Amid ongoing economic stagnation and the depreciation of the yen, Tokyo has reportedly become a destination for inbound sex tourism. Youth protection organizations have observed a notable rise in foreign male clients, particularly Chinese, frequenting areas where teenage girls and young women engage in survival sex. What ties these movements together is not just culturally specific beliefs, such as the fetishisation of virginity or the superstition that sex with young girls brings good luck in business, but power. The Battle to Protect Children The global campaign to end child sex tourism began in earnest with the founding of ECPAT (a global network of organizations that seeks to end the sexual exploitation of children) in 1990 to confront the rising exploitation of children in Southeast Asia. Despite legal frameworks and international scrutiny, the abuse of children remains disturbingly common. Several factors converge here: endemic poverty, weak law enforcement, and a constant influx of wealthier foreign men. Add to that the digital age of information and communication technologies, where child sex can be advertised, arranged, and commodified through encrypted platforms and invitation-only forums, and the crisis deepens. While local governments often pledge reform, implementation is inconsistent. Buyers, especially foreign buyers, often manage to evade consequences. However, in early 2025, Japan's National Police Agency arrested 111 people – including high school teachers and tutors – in a nationwide crackdown on online child sexual exploitation, conducted in coordination with international partners. Why This Moment Matters The shock surrounding the Laos revelations and the unusually direct response from Japanese authorities offers a rare opportunity to confront the deeper systems at work. Sex tourism doesn't happen in a vacuum. It's enabled by uneven development, transnational mobility, weak regulation and social silence. But this moment also shows grassroots activism can force institutional action. Japan's official warning wasn't triggered by a government audit or diplomatic scandal. It came because Ayako Iwatake saw social media posts of Japanese men boasting about buying sex from children and refused to look away. When she delivered the petition to the embassy, it responded quickly. Less than ten days later, the Foreign Ministry issued a public warning, clearly outlining the legal consequences of child sex crimes committed abroad. Iwatake's action is a reminder: it doesn't take a government to expose a system. It takes someone willing to speak out – even when it's uncomfortable. As she told Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun: 'It was just too blatant. I couldn't look the other way.' It's commendable that Japan acted swiftly. But a warning alone isn't enough. Japan should strengthen and expand its international cooperation to combat these heinous crimes. A more decisive model can be seen in a recent case in Vietnam, where U.S. authorities infiltrated a livestream child sex abuse network for the first time in that country. Working undercover for months, they coordinated with Vietnamese officials to arrest a mother who had been sexually abusing her daughter on demand for paying viewers abroad. The rescue of the 9-year-old victim showed what serious cross-border intervention looks like. But for every headline-grabbing scandal, there are hundreds of untold stories. The Laos case should be the beginning of a broader reckoning with how sex, money and power move across borders – and who pays the price. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.


Japan Today
an hour ago
- Japan Today
Japanese woman injured in subway station attack in China
Photo shows the subway station thought to be where a Japanese woman was attacked in Suzhou, eastern China, on Aug. 1, 2025. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo A Japanese woman was assaulted while walking with her child at a subway station in Suzhou, eastern China, sustaining a non-life-threatening injury, the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai and sources familiar with bilateral relations said Friday. Chinese authorities detained a suspect allegedly involved in the Thursday evening incident in Suzhou, the same city in Jiangsu Province where a Japanese mother and child were injured and a Chinese woman was killed in a knife attack in June last year. The Japanese government urged China to prevent similar incidents and ensure the safety of Japanese nationals. In the latest incident, the Japanese national was struck with a hard object and was treated at a hospital, according to the Japanese consulate general. It was not immediately clear what led to the attack on Thursday. An informed source said the attack reportedly occurred after the woman and child got off the subway train and the child tried to go to the restroom. With this year marking the 80th anniversary of what China calls its victory in the 1937-1945 War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese Embassy in Beijing has warned citizens of rising anti-Japan sentiment. On Sept. 3, China plans to hold a military parade in the capital's Tiananmen Square to commemorate the war anniversary. The consulate general also urged Japanese expatriates in China to remain vigilant when going out, especially when accompanied by children, and to watch for suspicious individuals. A mother whose child attends a Japanese school in Suzhou said, "Parents are all shocked. I will avoid going out with my child." The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it will take effective measures to ensure the safety of foreigners. The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China said in a statement Friday that it is "extremely regrettable" that the latest incident occurred following the knife attack in Suzhou and the fatal stabbing of a 10-year-old Japanese boy in Shenzhen in September. A Chinese film on the massacre in Nanjing committed by Japanese troops in 1937 hit screens on July 25, with more than 28 million people viewing it in a week, according to Chinese media. The Shenzhen stabbing incident occurred on Sept. 18 last year, the 93rd anniversary of the Japanese bombing of a railroad track near Shenyang -- an event that marked the start of the Manchurian Incident, leading to Japan's invasion of northeastern China. © KYODO