Trying to contact Japanese friends

I know this is not the most appropriate place but all avenues are being followed:

The Parsons family of Sydney Australia is trying to contact the following people:

Mr Hiroshi Ito, 43, formerly of Shikishima-Cho, Yamanashi-Ken, now believed to reside in Tokyo.  Possibly studied Architecture in Tokyo and his sister, Nozomi.

Mr Akira Satoh, 44, Tokyo.  Father was a pilot in JAL.

Miss Yoshiko Inoue, 41 , Osaka.

We have lost contact with each of these people and seek to know that you are safe and well.  Please contact nigel_parsons@hotmail.com or nigel@npaa.net.au.

If anyone can assist with searching for these people it would be greatly appreciated.  Contact was lost when we moved house around 15 years ago.

Thanks

The_Ghan

this might sound stupid but your best bet is on face book or mixi i guess if saw a photo of some one with that name you would recognise.

edit * also if you had additional details like an old address or company they may have worked for or uni they studied at and year you could possibly search.

easiest example is from your name and email I can tell you an architecht from ultimo blah blah blah

anyway if perhaps you know the uni they went to and year could be a good starting point (

although since that seems to be a good 15 years ago even that may be a tad difficult. would most likely needed to be searched in japanese also.

but if you can obtain this i can search mixi for you.

so i had a brief look on mixi could not find hiroshi ito could it be itou as i found a similar match ?

anyway for akira i found this only

profile description in google translate

---

Sato Akira Name

Gender Male

Osaka City address

Age 44 years

Blood type B

Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture Hometown

Sports and Hobbies, sports, cooking, outdoor

Career civil servants

Please call and introduce yourself Sato Chang

The transfer came to Osaka. Businessman is aiming to cultivate a public official version Division Nagashima. Island farming became president, but most

Middle managers own no chance of success even after speaking forever

But, by no means pessimists

Aw, I wasted no time in her life.生Kinakya fun at the moment

"I also enjoy pleasing people," If I want to talk to various kinds of people under the motto

Thank you very much

Explore by bicycle to your favorite outdoor Around Osaka. I would like to challenge that can only experience in that area.

Favorite baseball team entered the sport. Last year, 14 games, batted 225, 16 steals, 14 strikeouts.切Ranakatsu off or golf, or 100. Zekushio club, badminton Ogushio I'm sorry.

Favorite sports Golf, baseball, badminton, relay race runner once, I dreamed of running in the Hakone alma mater again.

----

also found

Sato Akira Name

Gender Male

Arida District, Wakayama Prefecture address

Age 44 years

Jan 01 Birthday

Hobbies drink, drive, travel, games

Vocational-technical

I love Yo - Personal

~ regards

---

yoshik inoue is not found at all although she is also probably married by now with a different name :(

Hi Keitaro,

Thanks for your help.  Unfortunately, I can't search in Japanese.  My Japanese language skills have faded over the last couple of decades.  I've spent a couple of hours on Facebook and also Google, to no avail.  I don't know where to look next.  Would an advertisement in a popular newspaper in Japanese help?  If so, how would I go about this?

The order to find these people has come from the top.  The highest office in the land .... my mother (she still rules the clan, bless her heart).  Our Japanese friends are all welcome to stay with my parents should they wish to leave Japan during this crisis.

Any help that anyone can provide in tracking these people down would be appreciated.

Cheers

The_Ghan

To be hohnest it's like finding a needle in a hay stack especially with news papers as you need to know which area they are in and the numerous amounts of different papers does not help.

do you have any info on schools or uni's they attended. Old addresses or phone numbers etc it's ok to pm me as I can do a search in mixi etc

Two more things:

1. I now have further information regarding the address I used to live at.  The exact address was:

842-14 Oshimojo,

Shikishima-Cho

Nakakoma-Gun

Yamanashi-Ken 400-01

I got the address from some old correspondence dating back to 1988.  I know it was north of Ryuo Station, 5-10 minutes by bicycle.  But Google Earth doesn't like the address I put in.  I've since learned that addresses in that area changed in 2004 when several towns were amalgamated into the city of Kai.  If someone can sort out the new address for me and give me Google Earth coordinates I'd be very grateful.

2. I now have the Tokyo address for the Ito Family I was searching for:

Mrs Yoshiko Ito

2-15-22

Higashimoto-Machi

Kokubunju-Shi

TOKYO  185

Phone with international code: 81 423 22 5783

I could find Kokubunji OK on Google Earth, but not the exact address.  I would appreciate it if someone could also accurately locate this address on Google Earth.

Also, I'm sure phone numbers are different now to what they were back in 1988.  I'd appreciate any help locating the Ito family.

Thanks in advance.

The_Ghan

Well, typing that address into a Japanese map service (mapion) gets this area:

http://www.mapion.co.jp/m/35.6732972222222_138.523466666667_9/

which I also approximately located on wikimapia:

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=35.6765462&lon=138.5203135&z=18&l=7&m=b

Look familiar?

Thanks Bikkuri,

Well, I've found my house in Oshimojo ... at least, where my house was!!!  It is actually the vacant lot to the west of where the arrow points on Mapion.  It was the middle of three houses there.  Either that, or it was the house in the same position on the next block to the south, which might be the case because I certainly remember the T intersection to the west.  I would be certain if I saw a photo, unfortunately there is no Google Earth street view for the area.  Bummer really.

The road that heads south between the rice fields used to stop at the last intersection with the streets heading west.  There was a track on the levy between rice fields which I used to ride my bicycle on.  It was rice fields all the way to the motorway.  I'd then take the narrow road following the motorway until the junction with the new bitumen that you can see in Google.  Those new roads weren't there back then of course.  They look just a year or so old.  But the old road that goes under the motorway and under the railway and turns west up to the south side of Ryuo station is the way I used to ride.  The south side drop off area used to be where bicycles were parked under three long covered awnings.

Sad that I can't confirm my exact house.

Thanks again for your help.

Cheers

The_Ghan

Can anyone help me with that Kokubunji address and phone number?

Cheers

The_Ghan

Forgive me for being cheeky but, why don't you just send a letter to that address? The local post offices all have a record of all residences and residents in the area they are responsible for.  Even if the address system has changed, they likely can deliver it to the person, if they still live there.

Yes, I've thought about that.  I only found the Kokubunji address on Saturday.

A letter might be the simplest way.

Cheers

The_Ghan

I'm bumping this thread by way of update.

I'm now in regular contact with the Ito family and looking forward to seeing them in October.

I've found Yoshiko Inoue's parents number via the Ito family, of all places, and have spoken to her father.  He says Yokko is now living in India.  He gave me an email address but it bounced.  Apparently she is learning or teaching traditional Indian dance.  So, I'm not giving up just yet as Mrs Ghan and I will be in Thailand next year and a trip to India is just a few hundred dollars from BKK.

I've not tried to contact Akira Satoh yet, but will attempt this month.

Cheers

The_Ghan