{"id":35164,"date":"2026-06-04T05:53:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T05:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/35164\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T05:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T05:53:14","slug":"tearful-parents-of-missing-auburn-university-student-issue-heartbreaking-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/35164\/","title":{"rendered":"Tearful parents of missing Auburn University student issue heartbreaking appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The parents of an Auburn University student who vanished during a trip to Japan<\/a> issued a tearful plea for help as their desperate search for their son continues.<\/p>\n

James \u201cWeston\u201d Higginbotham, 20, disappeared on Friday after venturing to Kyoto\u2019s Yamashina Ward in the eastern part of the city, likely to hit the hiking trails, according to his family.<\/p>\n

Auburn University student James \u201cWeston\u201d Higginbotham vanished on Friday after venturing to Kyoto\u2019s Yamashina Ward. Facebook\/Nancy Higginbotham<\/p>\n

Higginbotham\u2019s parents, Nancy and Keith, posted to Facebook on Monday to thank everyone for their \u201ccontinuous thoughts and prayers\u201d as they raced to Japan to help spread the word of their missing son.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe truly feel them,\u201d Nancy said in the video. \u201cWe do feel the love and the support that you guys have given us and that the community in Japan has given us as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tearful parents \u2014 who previously said they were living in their \u201cown hell\u201d\u00a0\u2014 urged everyone to continue sharing missing persons flyers and information about Higgonbotham until someone in Japan recognizes him.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery comment, every share, has led us all to where we are now,\u201d Keith added. <\/p>\n

Higgonbotham\u2019s parents, Nancy and Keith, asked people to keep sharing missing persons flyers and information about their son. Facebook\/Nancy Higginbotham<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time that you guys repost on social media, it\u2019s an opportunity for somebody in Japan to see it,\u2019 Nancy continued. \u201cThat is our ultimate goal is for people in Japan to see Weston\u2019s face so they can report back to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The environmental engineering student traveled to the country with family on May 25 and was last seen wearing a white shirt with a graphic that reads \u201cSave the Bees,\u201d lavender corduroy pants, and Adidas sneakers with black stripes. He was also carrying a tote bag with the outline of the state of Alabama.<\/p>\n

Nancy noted that her son \u201cmay be emotionally distressed,\u201d and that the matter of finding him was urgent.<\/p>\n

Higginbotham\u2019s phone location turned off when he disembarked from a train in Yamashina Ward, and he may have intentionally chosen to hike a quiet trail from Yamashina.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you see him, PLEASE DO NOT POST HIS EXACT LOCATION PUBLICLY. Please call local police immediately and then message me directly,\u201d the student\u2019s heartbroken mother posted on Facebook.<\/p>\n

The family of the environmental engineering student at Auburn University said Higginbotham \u201cmay be emotionally distressed.\u201d Facebook \/ Nancy Higginbotham<\/p>\n

Search efforts are expected to resume on Thursday, after authorities and volunteers combed the area north of Yamashina on foot and by helicopter.<\/p>\n

The family thanked the Japanese government, police, the FBI, the US Embassy, the Alabama government, and Japanese volunteers for their help in launching an all-out search.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you know Weston, you know what a great kid he is; he has a heart of gold,\u201d Nancy said in the video message.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all want him to come back safely.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The parents of an Auburn University student who vanished during a trip to Japan issued a tearful plea…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1127,8,26084,33,26550,213],"class_list":["post-35164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-alabama","tag-japan","tag-missing-persons","tag-nihon","tag-search-and-rescue","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}