What Happened to Yuri Yoshikawa?
This nine year old girl went missing on May 20, 2003, in the town of Kumatori near Osaka Bay. In the past 20 years, police have investigated thousands of leads and there is a 3 million yen reward offered for information, but still she is missing. Police say the only real lead they have had is that a white Toyota Crown was seen driving away from the area Yuri is believed to have been abducted with a male driver and a young girl in the passenger seat. I have been reading about this girl since coming to Japan and it is sad that she is still missing. Anyone with information is asked to call the Izumisano police station at 072-464-1234.
3 comments:
I can't imagine kow Yuri’s family feels. I am so sad and worried.
In Japan, there are cases where people were found after being confined for many years.
Let's cooperate and pray that she can return to her family safely.
My impression is that many of the abductors are young males who are afraid of or unable to have relationships with adult females. The child, usually a little girl is seen as a harmless doll that they can manipulate and play with as they like.
The victims, at least in the past, were often small girls who had been brought up to be quiet, obedient and polite. So they had not been taught to resist, fight back, scream for help or 'tell on' people who followed them, nor to try to run away if they were confined in someone's house.
Fortunately, most girls are much tougher today, they have been trained to kick and bite, scream and run for cover. In my area, almost all shops have a sticker with 'Children's SOS' on display and children are taught to seek help there as soon as they feel threatened.
Elementary school children now carry an alarm with a tag to pull. When the device goes off there is a wailing sound and an electronic signal is sent to the school, the local government, and the child's parents' mobile (and maybe to the police) so that rescue can be started as soon as possible.
I am very sad that these measures are needed, but unfortunately, there are a lot of strange people out there.
I pray that Yuri will be found alive as soon as possible.
This is so sad, especially as we usually think about Japan as a safe place, where stuff like this doesn't happen. But there are bad people everywhere it seems. I hope Yuri is alright, whereever she is now.
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