Urgent report - Missing fiancé

1. “45 days since the disappearance, he may be kidnapped, a couple so much in love”

Eriko Sugano (25) who became engaged with Mr. N last September, is now crushed with grief. They are both members of the Unification Church. Mr. N must have been kidnapped and confined by his parents and professional deprogrammers in order to try to make him denounce his faith. Yet the local police consider this is not a criminal case and is not making any active investigation.

‘Your Highness Eriko, you cut your hair short and your cuteness has updated! I became (illustration of a dog which its eyes and nose are drawn as a heart mark) when I saw you. How happy I am that we could have a date, just you and I. The two, snuggled tightly together, enjoyed popular Chinese food and walked around Nikotama (nickname of Futagotamagawa Tokyo) in beautiful weather…..

A week before his disappearance, on June 5th, Mr. N wrote this about their date in an exchange diary that they kept together. Last September, when they became engaged, Mr. N wrote a letter of pledge. It writes, “I wish you to be always honest with your true heart, and do what you like to do. Shiny active Miss Eriko, that is who I want you to be always. I also want to be like you.”

Both letters show his pure heart. A change from Miss to Your Highness is heartwarming. Miss Eriko describes him as a kind person who is capable of always being concerned about others. He is a nice guy. So what has happened to such a lovely couple?

Mr. N was working at a cram school as a teacher after graduating from Keio University master course, while studying to pass an employment exam for the Tokyo metropolitan government office. Miss Eriko began working after graduating from high school, and then went to study at a theological university. Now she is in her second year and taking a registered break. They used to have phone conversations every night and told each other about what had happened that day.

The day before the disappearance, he took a first screening exam for the government office. Over the phone he mentioned that the test was difficult, but everything else was as always, kind nice guy that he was.

On the next day, the 14th, she called him on his cell phone but the machine answered. It never had happened before. Mr. N was living with his parents at Suginami-Ku Tokyo. It is a single house in the middle of a residential area, 10 minutes away from Minami Asagaya Station, which is one station before Ogikubo on the Marunouchi Line. Even if something had happened, he is the kind of person that would never forget to tell her whatever the situation was. She was worried if he had taken ill. The next morning, she called his home but nobody answered.

She called the cram school where Mr. N worked and they told her that his father had called them and told them Mr. N had been suddenly hospitalized. She was so surprised. She rushed to visit his home from her house in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture. But the house was locked, there was no car in the garage. Obviously it was empty.

She talked to a person passing by. She told the person that she was asked to feed the goldfish. The person told her that they went on a family trip for awhile and she had no idea where they went. Hospitalized? Trip? She became puzzled. She called his father’s workplace (a major communication company) and they told her that his father had submitted a notice of absence.

Up until that moment there had been no sign of “kidnapping and confinement” but there was nothing else that it could be. She knew that there was a very active and famous deprogrammer living in Suginami, targeting Unification Church members around there to kidnap and confine, using several apartments in the Ogikubo area.

Days passed and Mr. N didn’t show up for his second screening exam at the government office. Miss Eriko is very sure that Mr. N wouldn’t disappear on his own will because working at the office was his first choice. She is in great anxiety. She still is not able to communicate with him.

“Time has stopped since that moment”, she said. She reported it to the police, and asked help from friends and church members.