Carmelita Lakdesha Paul – SoraNews24 —Japan News— https://soranews24.com Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today. Sun, 16 Aug 2026 09:29:11 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 https://soranews24.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/05/en_rocket_1024.png?w=32 Carmelita Lakdesha Paul – SoraNews24 —Japan News— https://soranews24.com 32 32 176746664 12-year-old British girl who went missing in Tokyo found safe after visiting anime sites around Yokohama https://soranews24.com/2026/08/16/12-year-old-british-girl-who-went-missing-in-tokyo-found-safe-after-visiting-anime-sites-around-yokohama/ https://soranews24.com/2026/08/16/12-year-old-british-girl-who-went-missing-in-tokyo-found-safe-after-visiting-anime-sites-around-yokohama/#comments Sun, 16 Aug 2026 09:03:56 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=742049

Police say she also spent time at an Internet cafe.

Carmelita Lakdesha Paul, a 12-year-old British secondary school student who went missing while travelling in Japan with her family, has been found safe after spending time at an Internet cafe while visiting anime-related locations around Yokohama.

Carmelita had been staying with her family at a private rental property in Minami-Kamata, a neighbourhood in Tokyo’s Ota Ward, after arriving in Japan for sightseeing with her parents and older brother on 21 July. She was reported missing by her mother shortly before 9:30 a.m. on 13 August, after the family awoke at around 8:30 a.m. and realised she was gone.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department issued a public request for information the following day, and officers continued searching for Carmelita, including checking security camera footage. Through surveillance footage, they were able to trace her whereabouts to Yokohama Station in Tokyo’s neighbouring Kanagawa Prefecture on the morning of her disappearance but they were unable to locate her beyond that. Carmelita was said to only have a few thousand yen (less than US$100) on her when she left, and she did not take her passport with her.

▼ The train journey between Keikyu-Kamata, the nearest station to the vacation rental, and Yokohama takes around 12 minutes.

At around 8 p.m. on 15 August, roughly 59 hours after she left the family’s accommodation, Carmelita walked into a police box in Yokohama by herself. She was unharmed and reportedly told officers that she had begun to miss her parents.

Police say Carmelita had gone out to visit anime “pilgrimage sites” (the term used to describe real-world locations associated with an anime or manga) and had also stayed at an Internet cafe.

Although police haven’t released details of how long she stayed at the Internet cafe, this part of the story raises questions about how a 12-year-old was able to stay there. Although entry for people under 18 is generally permitted during daytime hours, there are late-night restrictions for minors, even those accompanied by a parent or guardian, so it remains unclear how long she stayed there and under what conditions.

While police haven’t revealed any other details, except to say they do not believe any crime occurred, additional details about Carmelita’s movements were provided by Tsunehiko Maeda, a former prosecutor, in an online comment.

Maeda said that the day before Carmelita went missing, she had told her parents that she wanted to visit Yokohama to see locations associated with Bungo Stray Dogs, an anime that she likes. He also said investigators found evidence that she had travelled from Keikyu Kamata Station to Yokohama Station using a transport IC card and she was due to return to her home country with her family on the day of her disappearance.

Bungo Stray Dogs, the anime that reportedly inspired Carmelita’s trip to Yokohama, is set largely in Yokohama and follows the members of the Armed Detective Agency, a group of detectives with supernatural abilities. It won’t be lost on fans of the anime that after spending two nights away from her family while visiting locations associated with the series, Carmelita found herself seeking help from the real-life police there.

With police saying there was no criminal involvement in the disappearance, Carmelita has now been safely reunited with her family.

Sources: Yomiuri, Asahi Shimbun,  FNN via Yahoo! News Japan
Featured image: Pakutaso 
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]]> https://soranews24.com/2026/08/16/12-year-old-british-girl-who-went-missing-in-tokyo-found-safe-after-visiting-anime-sites-around-yokohama/feed/ 0 742049 12-year-old British girl missing Tokyo tourist found Japan anime sites internet cafe police box Yokohama news 12-year-old foreign tourist missing in Japan, police asking for help finding her [Video] https://soranews24.com/2026/08/14/12-year-old-foreign-tourist-missing-in-japan-police-asking-for-help-finding-her-video/ https://soranews24.com/2026/08/14/12-year-old-foreign-tourist-missing-in-japan-police-asking-for-help-finding-her-video/#comments Fri, 14 Aug 2026 10:50:17 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=741973

U.K. middle schooler seen on security camera footage after leaving family’s rental property alone.

Carmelita Lakdesha Paul, a 12-year-old middle school student from the U.K., arrived in Japan for sightseeing with her parents and older brother on July 21. She has now been reported missing, and the police are asking for help in finding her.

The Paul family is currently staying at a private rental property in Tokyo’s Kamata neighborhood. The last time the family saw Carmelita was on the night of August 12, when her father spoke with her before going to bed. When the rest of the family woke up at around 8:30 on August 13, she was gone.

▼ Video showing a photo of Carmelita released by the police as part of the call for help locating her

Carmelita did not take a phone with her when she left, so the family had no way of contacting her. The family contacted the police shortly before 9:30. In examining surveillance camera recordings the police found images of Carmelita, dressed in a sky-blue sleeveless top, black-and-white checked skirt and black pumps, and carrying a pink handbag, walking in the Nichome section of Kamata, near the family’s rental property. Investigators were able to determine that she passed through Yokohama Station, roughly 20 minutes south by train from Kamata Station, later that same morning, but have been unable to trace her path any farther than that.

Carmelita did not take her passport with her when she left the rental property, and her family estimates she had only a few thousand yen (less than US$100) on her, which would not be enough for an extended stay in reputable lodgings. The Tokyo/Yokohama area has also been experiencing severe rain showers , making proper shelter even more important than it would usually be.

The police describe Carmelita as being roughly 160 centimeters (5 feet, 3 inches) in height, with a medium build and curly black hair. Anyone with information as to her whereabouts is asked to contact the Tokyo Metropolitan Police’s Kamata Station at the phone number 03-3731-0110, but information can also be submitted at any police box or station.

Source: TBS News Dig, Sankei Shimbun, YouTube/ANNnewsCH
Featured image: Pakutaso (edited by SoraNews24)
Top image: Pakutaso
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