The parents of James “Weston” Higginbotham have released a map showing the area local police in Japan have already searched for their missing son, pleading with locals to assist in trying to find him.
Nancy Higginbotham, the mother of Weston who was last seen in Kyoto on May 29, shared in a post on Facebook a screenshot of what appears to be a Google Maps view of a wooded area in the Yamashina mountains in Kyoto. The map has a large red circle drawn around the area which she said the local authorities had already searched.
“We are asking experienced hikers to help search outside of the marked search zone, particularly in the surrounding mountains and remote trails,” she said in the post.
However, those who “don’t understand Japanese, don’t have a map app, haven’t prepared food, are lightly dressed, haven’t told anyone which route you’re taking, or start hiking in the evening,” have been warned by a local to be extremely careful, as “it could literally cost you your life,” according to Nancy’s post. The local added that “foreign travelers who aren’t familiar with the terrain, please be especially careful.”
Nancy told Newsweek on Friday that they are also “hiring a search party to help assist with the rescue.”
Who Is Weston Higginbotham?
It is now the seventh day since Higginbotham, a 20-year-old Auburn University student, went missing during a family vacation in Japan. He was last seen on May 29 in Kyoto at around 8:15 p.m. local time. CCTV footage later placed him at Yamashina Station, according to his mother’s reports.
Higginbotham’s mother previously told Newsweek the family had spent the day of May 29 separately while visiting Kyoto. She, her husband and their younger son visited a temple while Higginbotham explored the city on his own.
Nancy previously told Newsweek they weren’t worried about their son exploring alone as he is an “excellent navigator” as well as very fit, having previously completed an Ironman triathlon.
However, by the evening, they had received no response from Higginbotham to text messages they sent and noticed his live phone location had been switched off, which they said was out of character for him.
At around 2 a.m. local time, they reported him missing to police. He had about 10,000 Japanese yen (about $62.50) on him, and a phone at 34 percent battery the day he went missing, his mother told CNN. Nancy also told Newsweek on Friday that Weston did have food and water with him the day he went missing.
She added that since Weston went missing, they could see that he has not taken any money out of his bank accounts or used any phone data. He also had not used any money on his Suica card, which is a pre-paid electronic card used in Japan for public transport and other purchases, she said.
While Higginbotham has been missing, a typhoon hit Japan on Wednesday, making landfall on the Wakayama prefecture, resulting in the highest-level flood warnings in several areas. It also brought torrential rain to the Yamashina area on Wednesday.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Kyoto police or the nearest U.S. Embassy/Consulate.
The Search for Weston Higginbotham Continues
Earlier on Friday, Nancy said they had been given “permission to launch our own search party in Shiga,” as the search for Weston continues. She also shared an image of the woods in Kyoto—a dense forest packed with huge trees—and said, “this is what we are up against. It’s so dense. Please keep praying.”
She also said that they were waiting on additional CCTV footage because “there have been several sightings of him getting off at a different station.” Previous CCTV indicated he had been at Yamashina station, and Nancy told Newsweek on Friday that the camera footage showed him “heading northeast onto the woods.”
“We have chased so many leads that look very similar to Weston, but they aren’t. It’s been tough, but we take every lead seriously,” Nancy said.
She previously shared with Newsweek that on Wednesday around 50 police officers, K-9 teams and helicopters searched woodland areas near Yamashina, but that no trace of Weston was found.
She said on Facebook on Thursday that dozens of Japanese officers had searched through “waist-high mud in an effort to find Weston.” She added that the wooded area they believe Weston to be in had “ample water and limited berries.”
A Tropical Storm During Search
Earlier this week, a tropical storm injured at least 23 people in Japan, according to local authorities per a Japan Times report, and cut power for tens of thousands of homes across southwestern Japan. It also prompted evacuation orders for hundreds of thousands of residents.
Tropical Storm Jangmi, the sixth named storm of the season, hit the island of Honshu—where Kyoto is located—with heavy rain and strong winds on Wednesday, triggering flood alerts.
Nancy had previously told Newsweek that while the search was happening on Wednesday, the torrential rain left the woods very wet, and she was worried that the rain might affect how well the K9s could pick up Weston’s scent.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways had to cancel nearly 900 international and domestic services on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
The storm first battered the island of Okinawa on Monday, NASA Earth Observatory images show, and then moved north to Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island.
The storm’s center was about 150 kilometers (just over 90 miles) south of Tokyo on Wednesday afternoon, moving northeast with wind speeds reaching up to 82 feet per second, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said, according to Reuters.
‘Outpour’ of Support From Local Communities
Nancy told Newsweek that among local communities in Japan, there has “been this outpour of love, and they’ve been sending us good thoughts and praying for us. It’s just been incredible, and it’s the only thing that I think has been keeping me and my husband able to move forward.”
She described how one man traveled with them to five police stations helping them translate, while another women made flyers about Weston and spent three hours on a train handing them out. Many others have also been contacting her asking how they can help, and what they can do to assist in the search.
In the U.S., a GoFundMe was launched by an Alabama-based user named Lindsay Williams for the family. It appears to have already surpassed its goal of raising $25,000, hitting over $35,000 on Friday morning. One anonymous donor gave $25,000.
“This fundraiser has been established to help offset those search-related expenses and allow Weston’s family to focus their energy where it belongs: bringing Weston home. Every donation, no matter the amount, will help provide support for search efforts and related local resources in Japan,” Williams wrote.
Is This Article Fair?
Auburn University previously told Newsweek in a statement that it is “aware that one of our students, James ‘Weston’ Higginbotham, has been reported missing while traveling in Japan.”
“Our thoughts are with Weston, his family, friends and loved ones during this difficult time. University officials have reached out to the family and offered support,” the university added.
It said that Weston is a junior biosystems engineering major, and that “out of respect for the family’s privacy and ongoing efforts to locate Weston, the university has no further comment.”
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