Tiphaine Véron (born July 1982; disappeared July 29, 2018) was a French tourist who went missing in Nikkō of Tochigi Prefecture in Japan, a historical city located a 150 kilometers north of Tokyo. She was last seen eating breakfast at the hotel she was staying on the day of her disappearance.

The Disappearance 
Tiphaine Véron was born in July 1982 at Rennes. She moved to Poitiers in 1984.

Tiphaine arrived at Narita International Airport on July 27, 2018. She had meticulously planned her three week long vactation, with detailed plans of where to go, up to about August 14 when she was scheduled to return to France. She stayed in Tokyo for her first night, before heading to Nikkō by train on the 28th. CCTV footages caught her heading to her hotel in Nikkō, the Turtle Inn Nikko, from the train station that day.

On July 29, 5 witnesses saw Tiphaine eating breakfast at the hotel. She then left the hotel to go sightsee, as she had planned to do so.

Tiphaine never returned to her hotel, and, without her checking out, the owner of the hotel filed a missing person report the following day.

Initial search from 2018 to 2019 
On August 1, The Vérons were notified of Tiphaine's disappearance via the French Embassy. Tiphaine's sister and two brothers then traveled to Japan on August 6 to assist in Tiphaine's search. In addition, Tiphaine's mother seant a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, urging him to increase resource in their search.

On September 9, Tiphaine's sister, Sibylle, appealed to tourists visiting the city asking if they had any photos relating to her case. She also called out to President Macron on October 17 in the courtyard of the Élysée when he was meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who had been visiting France at the time.

On November 10, a protest and information campaign "to find Tiphaine" of 500 citizens took place in Poitiers.

From May 7 to 17, 2019, a search mission was carried out by mountain rescue experts but yielded no results. The Vérons visited Nikkō on the anniversary of Tiphaine's disappearance.

In August 2019, a new search consisting of five volunteers and seven dogs from Japan Rescue Dog was organized, but that too was fruitless.

Position of the Family 

After the May 2019 search, the family declared that they did not believe that Tiphaine was involved in an accident, but rather foul play was involved, and that they were planning to make additional trips to Japan. They also stated that the files submitted to French authoritites by the Japanese police were complete.

They considered that the interrogations carried out by Japanese police are incomplete and contradictory to what they perceive had actually happened around the time of Tiphaine's departure from the hotel. The Vérons had made use of Tiphaine's Google Maps data. The data's GPS points made it possible for her family to track her locations from when she set foot on Japan up till 11:40AM of the day of her disappearance, when her Wi-Fi's connection was lost.

Family members criticized Japanese authorities for a "lack of experience" in missing person searches.

Mobilization 
Tiphaine's relatives have created the association "United for Tiphaine".

Xavier Niel, founder of the telecommunications company Free, assisted the family of Tiphaine technologically. In particular, Niel's research on her phone signals established that Tiphaine's phone was disabled forcefully, such as the battery being torn off or the phone being destroyed, rather than by normal means.

Comedian Élie Semoun appealed to Social Media in July 2020 on the second anniversary of Tiphaine Véron's disappearance.

The investigation was also aided by Kazunari Watanabe, a local pensioner who has visited Nikkō for over 40 times to take part in the search.

2020 investigation 
In July 2020, French Justice minister Dupond-Moretti took over the case, stating that he was in the process of identifying the best "lever" to urge future actions in Japan.

An investigating judge has been appointed in Poitiers, and an active investigation remains open in France for kidnapping and forced confinement, in support of the family's belief that foul play was involved in Tiphaine's disappearance.

References

External links 

 Official page by the Tochigi Prefectural Police

1982 births
2010s missing person cases
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Nikkō, Tochigi
People from Rennes
People from Poitiers
Living people
21st-century French women