Don't come find me: girl disappears to Japan for 147 days and counting

A senior majoring in Japanese in Shu-Zen junior College of Medicine and Management in Kao Shiung has gone missing after leaving a note for her grandfather telling him "not to go find [her]."

The senior, Lu, had participated in an exchange program at school where they went to Kagoshima Women's Junior College last September. But after Lu came back, she decided to vanish on her grandfather this year on March 2--leaving only a note that cold-heartedly instructed her grandfather not to go find her by any means.

Yesterday, the grandfather of the student conducted a press conference at the Legislative Yuan along with a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator, Huang Wei Zuh, hoping the public could help search for his granddaughter.

The patriarch stated that his granddaughter has been missing for more than 4 months, and that the school does not seems to show enough concern over the issue. Every time the family contacts the school about the situation, the school only gives light responses telling the family not to panic or try to resolve the issue by themselves. And the reason why the school tells the family not to act on their own is because the school is afraid that their exchange program with the Japanese might be affected as a result.

The Ministr of Foreign Affairs disclosed the content of the note:

"It has been my intention all along. I have been planning this for a year and I do not plan on coming back. I am at a friend's house and I am perfectly safe. I am very annoyed at my current living situation, and will not regret that I ever left. Please do not try to find me and please forgive my waywardness. "

The note also mentioned personal reasons as to why she has decided to leave, but the above content was all that the family was willing to share with the public.

The grandfather said that the child has had no problems with the family except when she had received physical punishment for fighting with her grandparents a year ago. But it would be "impossible" for his grandchild to start planning her getaway a year before. At the time, the grandchild did not even know that she was going to go to Japan. But the grandfather realized that ever since middle school, his granddaughter has always had online friends from Japan.

Chou Shuei You, Deputy Director for the Asia Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated the college student has been listed in national missing person's list in Japan. Deputy Director Chou also took this opportunity to remind the rest of the Taiwanese to strictly abide to the local government's laws, travel safely, and have emergency contact ready at all times.

The female student's visa will soon expire on August 16--the family is concerned that if the girl decides to continue to stay in Japan, she might have to start "working under the table."

The grandfather reckoned that if the girl really wanted to get away ever since a year ago, she would not have still paid her tuition on time, and when she left, she had not packed her clothes at all--most important of all, there was still money in her bank account. The old man is desperate to find out the truth and get his granddaughter back.

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