A Japanese student in Vancouver has been missing for more than a week and her friends and family are becoming increasingly concerned about her safety. Natsumi Kogawa, 29, was last seen in downtown Vancouver on Sept. 7 and the last time she contacted anyone was on Sept. 8. Her boyfriend reported her missing on Sept. 12.
Vancouver police released a missing person’s bulletin for Kogawa on Monday. They said that Kogawa’s roommates were the last people to see her at her home near Burnaby’s Holdom station in Vancouver.
Kogawa’s good friend, Jay Vergara, told CTV Vancouver that Kogawa had messaged a friend on the morning of Sept. 8 to make plans to meet with him later that day. He said Kogawa didn’t show up for the scheduled meeting and she didn’t respond to calls and text messages from her friends.
“Something happened between the hours of 11:30 a.m. in the morning on Thursday and 5:30 p.m. in the afternoon,” Vergara said. “We’re desperately trying to find out what happened.”
Vergara said that his friend was studying English at Kaplan International English School in Vancouver and that it is uncharacteristic of her to just disappear without telling anyone.
“I’m incredibly concerned,” he said. “I really hope for her safe return.”
According to Vergara, Kogawa regularly kept in touch with her friends and family back home in Japan. He said that her disappearance has started making headlines there too. A growing number of online Japanese news websites have been following her story and a few Japanese journalists have even travelled to Canada to cover the case. One of those journalists, Tetsuya Nishio, from the Japanese news station TV Asahi, has been reporting on Kogawa from the Lower Mainland, B.C. and said there is significant interest in her story back home in Japan.
“There are a lot of unknown factors,” Nishio said. “A lot of Japanese people are concerned about the reason she’s gone missing.”
As for Vergara, he has vowed to continue searching for his missing friend for as long as it takes. He is looking for volunteers to help him distribute flyers with Kogawa’s image and description.
“She’s a really good friend of mine,” he said. “She’s got a fantastic sense of humour. She’s beautiful. She’s great.”
The Burnaby RCMP has taken over the case and they are asking anyone with information to call 604-294-7922. Kogawa is described as Asian, 4’11” with a slim build. She has long dark hair and may be carrying a black backpack.
