{"id":35742,"date":"2026-06-05T05:24:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T05:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/35742\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T05:24:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T05:24:01","slug":"after-auburn-student-goes-missing-in-japan-family-fears-hes-emotionally-distressed-nbc-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/35742\/","title":{"rendered":"After Auburn student goes missing in Japan, family fears he\u2019s \u2018emotionally distressed\u2019 \u2013 NBC New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Auburn University engineering student went missing<\/a> in Japan, his family and officials said Wednesday, and loved ones feared he could be \u201cemotionally distressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

James \u201cWeston\u201d Higginbotham, 20, was last seen Friday in Kyoto, his mother, Nancy Higginbotham, said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, the authorities did not find Weston today,\u201d she said in a statement posted late Wednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The family is grateful for the efforts of Japanese police, FBI agents, U.S. diplomats, Alabama officials and \u201cthe wonderful Japanese volunteers,\u201d Nancy Higginbotham said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the amount of resources they are pouring into finding our son is immense,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Higginbotham, a junior who studies biosystems engineering at the Alabama university, was traveling with his family when he vanished, Auburn said.<\/p>\n

Higginbotham grew up in Hoover, Alabama, and graduated from Spain Park High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hearts are with the Higginbotham family during this difficult time, and we remain hopeful for a positive resolution,\u201d Hoover Mayor Nick Drezis<\/a> said in a statement Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Higginbotham was last spotted at Yamashina Station in Kyoto, according to his mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know if he got back on the train at any point. Weston is a very experienced hiker and this town has beautiful nature trails,\u201d her statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe may have intentionally chosen a quiet trail from Yamashina, especially Bishamon-do, Lake Biwa Canal, Misasagi, Keage\/Nanzen-ji, Kyoto Trail, Mount Otowa, or Daigo\/Kami-Daigo.\u201d <\/p>\n

She added: \u201cHe may be emotionally distressed, so this is urgent.\u201d <\/p>\n

A State Department spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday that the Trump administration is aware of the reports that Higginbotham was missing in Japan, and that the administration \u201chas no higher priority than the safety of Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Higginbotham\u2019s parents said they\u2019re encouraged by the work of Japanese first responders and that social media is sharing the family\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re confident we\u2019re going to find him,\u201d his father, Keith Higginbotham, said in a video statement Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to find him because of everybody\u2019s help and posting and getting the word out so we can find the person who\u2019s going to find him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin Mullen contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Auburn University engineering student went missing in Japan, his family and officials said Wednesday, and loved ones…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8,17,26084],"class_list":["post-35742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-japan","tag-japanese","tag-missing-persons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35742","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=35742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}