Aug 05 (tokyoreporter.com) - In the search for a Chinese woman who went missing in Hokkaido last month, prefectural police have largely relied on security camera footage in determining her movements.
According to investigative sources, the last known location of Wei Qiujie, a 26-year-old primary school teacher in Fujian Province, is a shop specializing in Buddhist wares in Kushiro City on July 23, reports TBS News (Aug. 3).
On July 22, Wei, who has dark, shoulder-length hair, departed a guesthouse in Sapporo while wearing a white skirt. The day after, she exited an onsen hot springs resort in the Lake Akan area of Kushiro. Her whereabouts have not been known since.
Wei is traveling alone. She arrived in Hakodate City, Hokkaido from China as a tourist on July 18, two days before she checked into the guesthouse in Sapporo. She was scheduled to return to China on July 25. Her visa expired on August 1.
Wei's detailed timeline
The known movements of Wei are as follows:
--- At around 7:30 a.m. on July 22, Wei departed the guesthouse in Sapporo. She is believed to have traveled by train to Kushiro, which is located about 300 kilometers from Sapporo.
--- At 3:40 p.m. that same day, she was seen in surveillance camera footage taken at a ticket gate at JR Kurshiro Station. At 4:00 p.m., another security camera captured her at a bus terminal in front of the same station. She is then believed to have taken a bus to the Lake Akan area where she checked into the resort.
--- At about 7:30 a.m. on July 23, Wei was seen leaving the resort. Two hours later, a surveillance camera in a convenience store in Akan captured her inside. Thirty minutes after that, she was recorded by another camera inside a bakery in the same town.
--- At just after 10:00 a.m. that same day, a security camera captured her at a bus terminal in Akan from where she is believed to have traveled back to Kushiro. Two hours later, she was spotted holding a shopping bag inside the shop selling Buddhist items, located on the main street extending south from Kushiro Station.
Father arrived
Earlier this week, about 20 investigators began a search for in a forested area located about 7 kilometers from Akan after receiving a tip that a person resembling her was walking on a road in the area. However, no further clues developed during the search, according to TBS News (Aug. 2).
Wei's father arrived in Sapporo on July 28. "There was nothing unusual about her before she left [China]," he reportedly told police.
Police are now attempting to obtain Wei's credit card records as the investigation continues.
