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In 2021, around 80 000 people were reported missing in Japan.

The difference is, most of them disappeared by choice. A documentary by the South China Morning Post unveiled the industry that helps people go missing and vanish without a trace.

Many of these “jouhatsu-sha,” or “evaporated people,” chose to disappear because of debt, to escape their obligations, to run away from domestic violence, or just to start over elsewhere.

In the small town of Chiba, just outside of Tokyo, Naoki Iwabuchi runs a specialised business that helps people, particularly abused women and victims of stalking, disappear from society and travel to a safe place, Insider notes.

Iwabuchi reveals in the SCMP doccie how the business of “yonigeya” or “night moving” is fraught with danger:

He carries a discreet black “self-defense briefcase” with him at all times, which opens up into a shield with a layer of armor inside it. He also travels with a retractable baton-like device which he says he uses for protection.

“Night moving is sloppy and there’s always trouble. I don’t think a day goes by without trouble,” Iwabuchi told the SCMP, adding that he always assumes “the worst” will happen.

16 years ago, after recognising just how many women were faced with domestic abuse and who “couldn’t run away”, Iwabuchi decided to step in and help them find peace:

Around 90% of Iwabuchi’s clients are women, and 10% are men, Iwabuchi said, per the SCMP. And now, the number of people seeking to disappear is up to three times more than what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic, he added.

Per a 2020 BBC report, once these poor souls have “evaporated,” it is easy for them to maintain anonymity and hide in plain sight in Japan.

Another Insider article delves into the slum in the Japanese port city of Osaka that’s become the ‘Bermuda Triangle of Japan’ where people are able to live with new names and new lives:

Kamagasaki, also known as Airin Chiku, is an area in Osaka where people can get cheap accommodation and low-income jobs as day laborers. Hotels can be found at rates as low as $15 per night, and people stand at the side of the street hoping to get hired for odd jobs, per the SCMP.

Japan is a pretty easy place to vanish since privacy is highly valued. This makes it easy for missing people to withdraw money from ATMs without detection, for example:

“Police will not intervene unless there’s another reason, like a crime or an accident. All the family can do is pay a lot for a private detective. Or just wait. That’s all,” Nakamori told the BBC.

Watch the SCMP documentary for more on this sad state of affairs:

While Japan might stoke our imaginations as the land of geisha, anime, and cutting-edge technology (honestly, that only exists in Tokyo), it is also a place of ruinous loneliness and repression.

That also makes it the place where a number of odd, niche, businesses and lifestyles pop up all over the show.

[source:insider&insider]