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Missing person

john jones

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24 Jan 2017
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Hello.
Would anybody be able to give me some advice as to how I go about trying to contact a missing Japanese national? I'm from the Uk and trying to trace someone in Japan.
Many thanks in advance for your help.
 
Not at all mike why would you ask that?

We've had a couple of those recently and I was wondering if a new trend was developing.

What sort of information do you have and how out of date is it? Do you happen to know the kanji used to write the person's name?
 
We've had a couple of those recently and I was wondering if a new trend was developing.

What sort of information do you have and how out of date is it? Do you happen to know the kanji used to write the person's name?
Hello Mike.
The information I have is from 2009. I've been seeing a lady in the Philippines for the past two years. Sadly as a young foolish woman she got involved in a scam to get a Japanese visa someone 'arranged' a wedding with a Japanese gentleman. In return she would get a job in a cannery and pay back the man out of her wages. She failed to answer the questioning at the embassy around her application and her knowledge of her 'husband ' and therefore her application was kicked out. I'm not sure whether you are aware but there is NO divorce in the Philippines therefore we are unable to marry. If her 'husband ' had passed away though then that would leave us with a chance.
I'm sure many reading this will make judgement on this girl but her intentions were to help her poor family struggle out of poverty.
I have the man's name and a date of birth and an address. I have written to the address but no response.
Thank you for reading.
 
I'm not sure whether you are aware but there is NO divorce in the Philippines therefore we are unable to marry.

I wasn't aware of that. This site alleviated my ignorance quite nicely: https://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=20090

I have the man's name and a date of birth and an address. I have written to the address but no response.

I'm afraid you're probably going to need the services of an attorney and/or private investigator, then.

If the guy got paid to go along with the marriage, he's going to expect to be paid to go along with the divorce would be my guess.

No judgment from me. I was in the Philippines many times when I was a young man in the Navy. The consensus among my shipmates was that if we lived there we'd do anything it took to get out, so we certainly didn't find fault with the people who did live there. That place has some brutal poverty.
 
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While I agree with Mike that one would do anything to get out and it would be a reasonable effort on the part of the young woman, I'd also note that right now you might well be the thing she must do to get out. That doesn't mean you will be the thing she has to do to stay out once she is out.

If I were you I'd be very careful.

I'm sure she is exactly who she says she is, and a wonderful human being now, but, quite frankly, she has exhibited a willingness in the past to use a man to alleviate her and her family's suffering. I hold no judgment against her, but I would not want to be the next man she used for that purpose. It is very easy for a man from a developed country to overlook the motivations of a woman from a developing country. I've spent a fair amount of time in developing countries and have received my fair share of attention from young women in them. I always keep in mind what I, as a 43-year-old man who is in typical 43-year-old shape has to offer a young, beautiful woman. With that in mind, I keep my wits about me and treat these young women with care and respect.

Have you been to the Philippines to meet her?

Have you lived in the Philippines for an extended period of time to court her?

Your profile says you're from the UK, are you aware that the UK has quite stringent laws regarding bringing in a foreign spouse?

I mean no disrespect. I hope you will take this post in the spirit in which it is offered.
 
I wasn't aware of that. This site alleviated my ignorance quite nicely: https://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=20090



I'm afraid you're probably going to need the services of an attorney and/or private investigator, then.

If the guy got paid to go along with the marriage, he's going to expect to be paid to go along with the divorce would be my guess.

No judgment from me. I was in the Philippines many times when I was a young man in the Navy. The consensus among my shipmates was that if we lived there we'd do anything it took to get out, so we certainly didn't find fault with the people who did live there. That place has some brutal poverty.
Thank you mike.
To be brutally honest mike I was hoping that I would find out that the gentleman has passed away.
Are you able to suggest private investigators names on here if you knew any?
 
While I agree with Mike that one would do anything to get out and it would be a reasonable effort on the part of the young woman, I'd also note that right now you might well be the thing she must do to get out. That doesn't mean you will be the thing she has to do to stay out once she is out.

If I were you I'd be very careful.

I'm sure she is exactly who she says she is, and a wonderful human being now, but, quite frankly, she has exhibited a willingness in the past to use a man to alleviate her and her family's suffering. I hold no judgment against her, but I would not want to be the next man she used for that purpose. It is very easy for a man from a developed country to overlook the motivations of a woman from a developing country. I've spent a fair amount of time in developing countries and have received my fair share of attention from young women in them. I always keep in mind what I, as a 43-year-old man who is in typical 43-year-old shape has to offer a young, beautiful woman. With that in mind, I keep my wits about me and treat these young women with care and respect.

Have you been to the Philippines to meet her?

Have you lived in the Philippines for an extended period of time to court her?

Your profile says you're from the UK, are you aware that the UK has quite stringent laws regarding bringing in a foreign spouse?

I mean no disrespect. I hope you will take this post in the spirit in which it is offered.
Hello wonky.
Thank you for replying, and I appreciate your honesty and know you mean no disrespect.
Yes I have visited her many times in he Philippines. I'm aware of all the rules regarding bringing in a foreign spouse. I'm a member of British Filipino who have hundreds of members dealing with the visa application process daily. There is no stipulation regarding me living with her in th e Philippines. In fact as she is still technically married I we could both be arrested for adultery under their laws.
 
I'm sure many reading this will make judgement on this girl but her intentions were to help her poor family struggle out of poverty.
Thank you mike.
To be brutally honest mike I was hoping that I would find out that the gentleman has passed away.
Are you able to suggest private investigators names on here if you knew any?

What is the city or prefecture of the husband's last known address?
 
Hello wonky.
Thank you for replying, and I appreciate your honesty and know you mean no disrespect.
Yes I have visited her many times in he Philippines. I'm aware of all the rules regarding bringing in a foreign spouse. I'm a member of British Filipino who have hundreds of members dealing with the visa application process daily. There is no stipulation regarding me living with her in th e Philippines. In fact as she is still technically married I we could both be arrested for adultery under their laws.
Wonderful, I'm glad to hear it, love is a great thing! Congratulations! :)
 
Hi Mike.
Last known address Kuwana City. Thanks Mike.

I've just been doing a little googling and looking at agencies. It looks like this will run you about 100,000 yen or more....maybe quite a bit more. Is cost a factor for you? Agencies will give estimates of what their services will run, but of course they would need to know all the details you can provide them regarding the man. How old is the information? What kind of documentation does she have? Again, do you have the information in Japanese characters?

I feel I should point out that the chances are that the person the fake marriage was arranged with is in some way connected with organized crime figures here and that the chances they were bringing her over to work in a cannery are low. Employers abuse the trainee visa when they want to bring in people from poor countries and pay them slave wages for sweatshop labor. The only conceivable reason to try to go to the trouble and expense to bring a young woman in under the fake marriage route is prostitution. The up side to that is that it may be they have already forged her name onto a divorce or had an annulment done and all she has to do is get documentation of it and pretend she was a party to it. The down side is that if they haven't done that, they have you over a barrel and you can expect to be milked for all they think they can get from you.
 
I've just been doing a little googling and looking at agencies. It looks like this will run you about 100,000 yen or more....maybe quite a bit more. Is cost a factor for you? Agencies will give estimates of what their services will run, but of course they would need to know all the details you can provide them regarding the man. How old is the information? What kind of documentation does she have? Again, do you have the information in Japanese characters?

I feel I should point out that the chances are that the person the fake marriage was arranged with is in some way connected with organized crime figures here and that the chances they were bringing her over to work in a cannery are low. Employers abuse the trainee visa when they want to bring in people from poor countries and pay them slave wages for sweatshop labor. The only conceivable reason to try to go to the trouble and expense to bring a young woman in under the fake marriage route is prostitution. The up side to that is that it may be they have already forged her name onto a divorce or had an annulment done and all she has to do is get documentation of it and pretend she was a party to it. The down side is that if they haven't done that, they have you over a barrel and you can expect to be milked for all they think they can get from you.
Thank you mike.
I wonder whether you would know how easy it is to check against a name on a census to see if he is alive. I have his parents names too.
 
I doubt very seriously that one could find his name via census data. Should I take that question to mean that you are unwilling or unable to engage the services of a private investigation agency to locate and contact him? If so, it would save me the bother of trying to find one for you that can work with you in English.
 
I doubt very seriously that one could find his name via census data. Should I take that question to mean that you are unwilling or unable to engage the services of a private investigation agency to locate and contact him? If so, it would save me the bother of trying to find one for you that can work with you in English.
No mike I would very much appreciate it if you could suggest somebody. I was just trying all avenues. Thank you so much.
 
No mike I would very much appreciate it if you could suggest somebody. I was just trying all avenues. Thank you so much.

I've been on the phone with a couple of places and one is going to call me back in a few hours (still before dawn here). First I'm going to have to see if they have somebody who can handle a client in English or if you're going to have to arrange a go-between or translator or something. Then undoubtedly the matter of payment will come up and with you being out of the country I have no doubt they will want payment up front. That's if they'll even take the job at all, of course.
 
No return call from the agency.

The best I can tell you is to google up a lawyer. You might try contacting bar associations for a referral.
 
Thanks for all your help mike.

No problem. I wish I child have done something that was actually useful.

Best of luck to you, and please keep us updated on developments. A record of any successes or lessons learned would serve as a resource for others in the future.
 
Well, for whatever reason it took an extra day but I finally got a return call and just spent about fifteen minutes on the phone with a private investigator. If you're still interested in pursuing this course, I need you to send me a private message with EVERYTHING you have that could possibly be of any conceivable value whatsoever in finding the guy. I will then contact the investigator again and let him know what you have. Based on that he will be able to figure out if there is enough to work with and to give you some kind of estimate regarding what it might cost.
 
Looks like he never logged back in, always disappointing when I see how Mike will take the time to make phone calls etc.
 
Looks like he never logged back in, always disappointing when I see how Mike will take the time to make phone calls etc.

Now that I think about it, off-line efforts taken for strangers have seldom worked out well.
 
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