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KYOTO, Japan (BFMG) — A massive search is underway in Kyoto for a 20-year-old Alabama college student who disappeared while vacationing with his family in Japan. Authorities, local residents and U.S. officials are working together as the family looks for James “Weston” Higginbotham, an Auburn University student and graduate of Spain Park High School. [WBRC]
The family arrived in Japan on Friday, May 22, to celebrate one of their children earning straight A’s throughout high school. “Our family just has this thing where we’ve always told the kids, ‘If you make straight A’s throughout high school, you can pick anywhere in the world you want to go,’” their mother, Nancy Higginbotham, told WBRC. The younger son, a straight-A student, chose Japan, and the family embarked on what had been a “wonderful trip.”
“It’s been absolutely the most stunning country,” she said, describing how they started in Tokyo and visited other places before arriving in Kyoto — where Weston went missing on Friday, May 29.
Weston went out on his own to explore the city that day, his mother said. The family is well-traveled, and Weston has studied abroad, so he is extremely comfortable navigating new places. Nancy Higginbotham described him as a “master navigator” who uses public transit and is in good physical shape, making him well-equipped to go out on his own in a country many consider very safe.
CCTV footage showed Weston getting off a train in Yamashina, a ward of Kyoto. His last known purchase was made at a hardware store, his mother said. The family sent him messages asking what he was doing, but he never replied. His phone location turned off around 8:29 p.m., and they have not heard from him since.
Weston Higginbotham has blond hair and blue eyes and is 6 feet 1 inch tall. He was last seen wearing a shirt with a white front and “Save the Bees” on the back with two bumblebees, lavender corduroy pants with a large cuff, white Adidas shoes with black stripes and wide shoelaces, and a shoulder bag with the state of Alabama on it.
On Wednesday, June 3, about 12:30 p.m. Japan time, Nancy Higginbotham spoke with WBRC and said authorities were searching the Yamashina Woods earlier that morning. Surveillance cameras helped narrow his last known location to Yamashina Station. She said 50 local policemen, K-9 units and helicopters began searching the wooded area north of the station around 8 a.m. Wednesday.
The Japanese government, local authorities and citizens have joined together in the effort to find Weston and support the family. “Japanese citizens have been so amazing,” Nancy Higginbotham said. “They have come together like Weston is their child. I have people going on a train for three hours to help hand out flyers. It’s people just coming to translate, and to help and to go search in the woods.”
She praised Japanese authorities for their work and credited the U.S. Embassy and other U.S. representatives for their support of the family. Community members from Alabama have also reached out to offer prayers and support, which she said has meant a great deal as they navigate this situation.
“You realize, community is everything,” Nancy Higginbotham said. “People come together to help others deal with their tragedy and trauma. It’s absolutely incredible, but not just in the U.S. The Japanese citizens, I could cry telling you how wonderful they have been.”
