When you disappear, everyone looks for you. But when you're alive, you are invisible.

"Why do they choose to disappear " bruh have you seen society lately

Helping a domestic violence victim to 'evaporate' is a true act of kindness. Extended support demonstrated in this video is outstanding. Being herself a victim of such violence makes it a very good situation for her clients. God bless her and her staff.

I 'vanished' when I cut ties with my sisters. They're socipathic narcissists and I felt they held me financially and socially hostage, using their kids as bargaining tools whilst being physically abusive, lying, stealing and just the worst humans in my life for decades. When I nearly died from sepsis, they were total scum to me and took advantage of me. When I healed a year later, I changed my job and my contact details and just moved on to better things. I still remain on a professional register as a healthcare provider. But my sisters are not educated or informed people and have as yet to figure out this register exists. They dont have the money to hire someone to look for me, and if they did Id tell that investigator to leave me alone and ask for no disclosure. Im really happy with my friends and my home, my job is interesting and my career keeps progressing. Sometimes it's not the person who left that had a problem, it's the people we walked away from.

I’m a young Japanese girl (trying to learn English in university) and I can attest that it’s really hard to live here. The constant pressure of my parents, peers, and yourself as well. It’s the standards that you have to achieve. Sometimes, I want to escape to Europe or USA and live a new life, to start a new "me" that no one knows. Then l realize a lot of people are like me, still trying to live normal everyday life. What is the meaning of life? Our existence? No one have the answer but ourselves. Plus living in another country, culture shock of their different ways might be hard. So I’ll try my best everyday and I hope you will too! ^___^ 頑張れ！

"They bring you flowers when you're dead, but no soup when you're sick."

I lived almost 20 years in Japan and can recall two women who each had a parent who vanished (and it was a traumatic experience for both of them) and there was an entire family in our neighborhood who vanished as well. What is even more prevalent is suicide. There were three in our building alone.

It makes me so sad to think about Naoki's brother and how when his parents die he will be alone with no closure. It's awful how his disappearance has had such a negative impact on his family :( I really hope they find out what happened to him one day.

I would love to see the expression on the face of the abusive husband when he returns from work to find his wife and kids have disappeared and the house in empty of belongings.

To be a night mover for women, victims of domestic violence, what a badass job. Heroes in disguise

This was a really well-made documentary. It looks at this complex issue from many different perspectives. Very interesting.

I did that as well. My father was a nasty, abusive monster. So after graduating from the university I left the country to distance myself and to be free from dealing with him. It wasn't easy at the beginning but now I am living happily, never having to worry about seeing that horrible person again.

“We hid their identities” - shows their faces clearly from multiple angles

I completely understand those missing persons, why they just chose to evaporate, because I myself has purposely "keep away" from my parents whom lives in NYC, but I now moved to AZ 2 years ago, somewhere I've never been to. The core reason of why people like us do this, is actually very simple. The relationship/human bonding/kinship is just too toxic & too much negative energy/ignore/dismiss/verbal or physical abuses for us to handle after accumulating to a certain degree throughout life, until it just snapped at that moment in our life. For me, it just went like "damn, I've tried my best to cope with them for years, but some people just lacks the EQ or kindness to understand/accept/appreciate me, even if they're my parents, so it just couldn't be resolved. It's outta my control & I'm outta here without regret because I tried & never worked." Any sense of Duty, Responsibility, Social Role we're assigned & expected to play as a human in the family & the society, just does not matter anymore once this self realization & self rescue awareness has occurred. The mind just suddenly enlightened & a new level achieved! Nothing is more important than my own inner peace & start a new life away from all of that sh*t, in order to live out the best of myself as much as I can. To be honest, I only maintain contact with my parents through text once or twice every few months, I don't let them know my home address or what I'm doing. Setting up boundaries & avoid toxic/negative energy/emotions passing from them is the key. It's hard emotionally initially, but life has honestly been so much better for me now. Be yourself, live for yourself, the most important relationship in your life is with yourself... Good luck & have an amazing life!

😰😰😰 Naoki, I can feel your longing for your brother. I hope he is okay wherever he is. I'm an introvert too and now as I watch this, I learned a lot. Sometimes, I want to escape too when things go messy and I can't handle it. But now, I realised, if I disappear without due notice to my loved ones, without explaining them my plans, I will forever hurt them and I don't want to do this to them.

I ache to think of all those that are in lock down with their abusers during covid19.

It's really true movie about telling Japanese truth. I was born in Japan, grew up in Japan but at the age of 30, I've moved to Taiwan to search for new life. Actually, both Taiwan and Japan are same insularism, small island countries. But cultures, way of living, ideas are pretty different. while I was living in Japan, I always took care about what others think about me, how you look others. I hardly breathed, felt be choked, felt be monitored by other's eyes. I always think "is it normal ?". After working in a big Japanese company for 6 years, I've decided moving out of Japan. Now, a salary is less than I worked in Japan, but I got high satisfaction and a fulfillment of heart through normal dairy life in Taiwan.

Great documentary. Here is one thing I was to say. This does not only happen in Japan. This happens all over the world. But it just hit us stronger because we think things like this do not happen in Japan or in the Asian culture. What upset me is, I get it you want to vanish or Disappear, BUT leave a NOTE explaining yourself. Even if you don't want to be found... It is extremely, emotionally, exhausting burden and giving them poor health to the person you're doing this too. Leave a letter or a note with 5 to 10 words or sentence. That's it. Trust me, I understand.

I love that you are willing to help these people escape their dangerous living conditions. You are so awesome!! For you and everyone who helps you with these amazing vanishings, Thank You So Much! Sometimes disappearing is the best option and only option for most. At least they have someone to ask for help and not have to suffer anymore. I myself have been through domestic violence. The hitting, all the alcohol they consume, drugs. It just drains you. Mentally, Physically, emotionally. You stop living YOUR life and instead just exist. Walking on eggshells and having to watch what you say. I am grateful that there is people like you who make a huge difference in every life that you save. Thank You.

“Dead people receive more flowers than the living ones because regret is stronger than gratitude. “- Anne Frank.

"His brother said there was nothing in naokis past that he would choose to dissapear".Trust me u dnt know another person even if they are family.

I love the respectfulness in this video 🐇 The narrator is respectful, and how this video is presented is also very very respectful!

I am one of those "missing people". I am doing fine here in the States. I like my new identity.

i realized something. When I'm in a group of people that knew me for a long time and my past. I would feel like they are still judging me for things that i did. But when I met a stranger. It was easier to talk to and made friends. Because they have nothing to judge then. That's why some people decided to just.. vanish. to build a new you.

Their country and it’s people are under so much stress. It’s sad because I think Japan is really an amazingly beautiful and fascinating country. I just wish they’d stop putting so much pressure on themselves.

I feel so bad for the poor old lady whose husband left her. Sometimes life can be heartbreaking even if there is no one to blame

When you die everyone cries and misses you but when your alive no one cares, no one wants to see you, no one loves you. Story of my life

Japan has serious problem with people’s social relations.

"IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR HIM TO DISAPPEAR BECAUSE HE'S LIVING HIS LIFE AS A HAPPY PERSON" i mean LOL, u can't tell that someone is happy with their life by simply looking at them like they were smiling as if they don't have any problems

I was brought up in the UK had a very abusive monster of a step dad. He beat me and sexually abused me from a very very young age. I ran away many times once at 13 managed to dissappear for six months. The police always found me and brought me back to my abuser. At 16 I disappeared for good then at the age of 26 I went back whilst he was at work and took my mother and brother. By this time I was strong enough to take him on if he came home. Finally we are all free.

This makes me cry. It is so sad. Life can be so difficult and challenging for so many lost souls.

My heart breaks for naoki's brother. He seems so weighted down by his brothers disappearance

That’s horrible to be in a position in life where you HAVE to contemplate either suicide or literally disappearing without a trace to escape a bad situation.😢

I wish this was more prominent in other countries too! Leaving an abusive household/relationship swiftly and with help is a wonderful feeling, may it be with anxiety and stress included. :)

This is indeed sad, However this woman is helping out so many people. Thank you

They are probably running from debt collectors, family obligations, abusive relationship or suffering from midlife crisis.

They requested to not reveal their appearance, and they're shown - their eyes, flashes of their faces, all for your video's sake.

Thank you🌈

That old couples story broke my heart. I can't imagine being left behind like that

My stepdad was verbally abusive and always breaking things when he was angry, when I was 12 after 2 years of his apologies, anger management which helped nothing, my mother decided it was time to escape. We pretended to load trash bags for the laundromat... it was the most anxious and terrified I had ever felt, he was watching tv, and while we handed bags to our mom to put in the car out the back door, I could feel at any moment he’d figure out our plan because there were so many bags. That’s exactly what happened. He grabbed a hand gun and threatened to kill himself in the yard, when he started shooting we dropped to the floor, I held my 7 month old brother under one arm and my 8 year old brother under the other bellies to the floor. My mom called police and they escorted us to the state line. I have so much respect for law enforcement, they saved our lives that day and walked into a situation where they could’ve been shot to rescue us. Years later we found out that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, depression and paranoia, mental health is so important, I think men especially in America don’t think they should seek help out of shame or appearing weak.

It broke my heart when the grandma said she comes back to the station every single day. 💔 i mean, it’s like Hachiko on a different level. 😭

Thank you. This made me very sad though.

You are a Angel helping people GOD BLESS , you people have a 💓 Heart of gold. Keep up the good work. Love from UK

I don’t blame them. The pressure on people over there is suffocating.

I took to the road for years.. I even joined a carnival. I just wanted to be anonymous. No one in the carnival was interested in your name..they all had their own stories..stories, like mine, they kept to themselves. Mine was simple. I was brought up in a large, poor family..with a father that drank and was overly domineering. So at a young age I just up and left without a word. I had just had enough. May I say..the sense of freedom was overwhelming. I am now 71..and in a great place in my life. The lessons I learned on the street, kept me ahead of the game. I was totally off grid. Everyone should experience surviving off of their wits..and seeing all the BS, people live with. When you have nothing, you have nothing to lose. When is enough, enough ? As far as this life..its not real. Put it like this..life is simply you, the soul, having a physical experience.

This is a very good very interesting documentary.

Well done. ♡

There's something impossibly human about running away, about vanishing--- but there's also something unbearably cruel about never letting the people who've loved you know if you're alive or not.

While I can understand people running away from things... The pain of the old lady looking for her husband was heart breaking

Noted Thanks for you info...

To me the truly frightening part is if a person wanted to disappear and contacted and paid for a mover that nobody was told about because of secrecy but the mover turned out to be in the black market for healthy organ harvesting and the man or woman or even children just happened to be the perfect non-voluntary organ donor . Just seems that the set up is there ripe for the taking in Japan

I have been living in Japan for 4 years now and most times I sit and people watch and all I see is a sad society that is stuck on perfection. In my current job I work with children and with every interaction I try to let they know perfection doesn’t exist and life is messy. All that matters is we apologize when we’re wrong or made someone feel less than they’re while working to become a better version of yourself. This documentary was extremely sad for me. Y’all stay safe and know that someone out there cares and love you.

I own a moving company in Calgary Canada. It seems like atleast once a year I get a call from a abused spouse that is secretly planning to leave there abuser. Knock on wood, they have all been successful.

In the 1950s - 70s ,, I was in Japan many times, for many years I worked close with JAL. I learned so much from the people. At the same time, I got to know the people of about 35 countries. Japanese always stood out as very exceptional in every way, with unparalleled honesty and such qualities clearly far above others I met in my travels.

I had a cousin about my age who vanished after college in 2009. My family and clan looked for him everywhere but when they filed a missing persons report, the police said he walked into a police department and said he wasn't missing. He vanished because the clan didn't want him to marry his white girlfriend. Couple years ago he came back but the first thing the damn clan said to him was if he was ready to leave his wife and kids. So he vanished again. My aunt and uncle seems very depressed but what can he do? I agree with what he's doing sadly. That's why some people don't ever bother coming back, because they believe nothing's changed.

My heart aches for the man who was yelled at by the retirement home staff... Imagine how much of a burden he must've felt to make the decision to leave. The elderly get treated so poorly..

It's hard looking for people who don't want to be found.

Love and Light

I have mixed feelings about this... the pain of the individual feeling they have no choice but to vanish, and the pain of those left behind, family and friends who live in perpetual "loss". God bless them BOTH.

People miss the dead, more than the living. People more interested in death, more than life. People treat the dead better, than the living.

I up and left my partner having been beaten for 7 years. I packed my belongings bit by bit, took weeks to organise and plan. I had a 9month old child and made sure she wasn’t put to bed. As soon as he left the home my help came and within an hour the house was empty and I was gone. I went 500 miles away. Everything was set up by my step brother... he was my saviour. My then ex put rewards out for info of where I was and everything. I knew though that had I not had left he would have killed me. He was a violent and vile evil man. I would suggest that any woman that was as scared and being abused like I was just to get the hell out.... there is a life after. No police would intervene and help at that time, now the law has change thank god.

The moving agency owner is an angel disguised as a human. She's brave, clever and very caring.

Wow, that's impressive

PLEASE DO BETTER TO HIDE THEIR FACES, VOICES AND THE LOCATIONS!

I started watching this video with so much curiosity of why a lot of people vanished in Japan, and I just ended up being emotional. Man, this video says a lot to me. So much realization in life. You are so old, some might say you are dying, and here you are, waiting for your son to come back home. After 14 years, still no chance of meeting him. All you ask for is to at least have a last glance of him before you leave permanently this world. Anxiously living each day with a scary thought that your abusive husband will find you and your child. And could hurt you again. Patiently visiting the subway/train station everyday hoping that your husband will come back after leaving. After three months, you received a letter from him that he doesn't want to come back. A mother and her children aghast that their father did not return for days that became months that eventually became years, thinking he was just on a business trip. You were so young, hoping that you could meet your father again. And you did, and he said he is not yet ready to come back home.

An act of heroism is helping others in danger. This woman helping others to safety giving less thought to her own safety than that of others, is a true Heroine 💞🙏💖

Oh my. So so sad. The layers of sadness in this world is incredibly mind dumbingly tragic.

I get really nervous even when they show their eyes or lips.. Can they jsut blur the entire face? I feel scared for them

I mean let’s not forget that they have a “suicide forest” Sad reality

interesting!! i never thought other people even in other countries have done the same thing i have done- so many of the reasons and thoughts about disappearing are the same as i have experienced!!!

Watching it because of the curiosity of it, but at the end i ended up being emotional.

"Miho" asked us to protect her identity, but you showed her face, her clothes and her office, brilliant job 👍

Can we talk about how the blur they use to "protect their identity" completely fails to stop people from recognizing them? Their features are still very clear. Every facial feature is recognizable. What a joke.

This made me sad...and disappear from my shadow too

WOW !! POW!! TOTALLY AMAZING INDEED !! THIS IS VERY NEW TO ME !!!!! FROM U.K. (2022)..

My heart was pounding when they were packing up.

When I was 14/15 years old my grandmother brought an abuse Japanese girl home when we lived in Pittsburgh. She was so sweet. Didn't speak English but she communicated thru kindness. Her name is Yusiku and she got back on her feet and moved on. Her husband had beat her terribly. We never heard from her but I will always remember my grandma's kindness.

This is incredibly sad

Blessings

I liked how the lady took the fridge. To move so much stuff in two hours is admirable.

As an 18 year old I left my home state with a wonderful and loving man to get away from a dysfunctional family. I’ve had a good life. I can’t even imagine what my life would have been if I had stayed around my toxic parents and family. Things can get so bad you have to go to any lengths to get away from a hopeless situation. I understand what motivates many of these desperate people!

That's great i have nobody to cry on.. i already lost everything.. i will really consider this

I think this issue is universal. Anyway ....very nice of you .... for raking this up.... Good to you..

Damn my anxiety levels sky rocketed when they were rushing to pack all those boxes. I can't believe she was able to pack all that without her husband noticing.

Reminds me of this quote, "We suffer more in imagination than reality" - Seneca

20:12 that woman is so strong. Breaks my heart how many toxic environment make people trapped and suffering.

Nice documentary. I'm thinking of the same thing but maybe I will left a note at least so that there's a closure and everyone can move on with their lives.

Bless the woman with the night moving company. She went through domestic abuse herself and had to flee. She has dedicated her life to helping others in similar situations, as well as becoming their friend and support. She once needed help and is now helping 1500 others. Other than that it does appear that many who dissapear have issues with communicating and expressing emotions.

escaping is easy but i think starting a new life is hard.

I often consider leaving the current drudge/cage that is married life, disappearing, changing my name and starting over. Escaping TO a place like Japan, the further away the better 🤷🏻‍♀️ Miho is doing Gods work, bless her 🙏🏻

I just hope that woman, her daughter & her mother are safe & doing well. 💜

My Japanese husband when he was in his early 20's ran away from home in the south of Japan and spent 3 years in Tokyo doing odd jobs...he eventually returned home after he found what he wanted to do..be an acupuncturist.. He had felt pressure from his family to continue with the family farm... His mother thought he was dead...

I hope he finds his brother. It seems like he really loves him from his heart.

God bless this woman for helping people she’s putting her life in danger so others don’t have to die may God be with this woman and her mission

As a survivor of domestic violence, I understand the desire to disappear for safety reasons even though it was not an option available to me & my children. At the same time, as a human being living through the hospicing phase of this modern world, I long for other ways of being & doing. Perfectionism & this black/white, good/bad mentality fuels domestic & other forms of violence & is not reserved to Japan; the USA & many places I have seen struggle with these false dichotomies as well. In some ways I am grateful for my dv experience because it helped open my mind to ways I could live in different relationship with that toxic mentality. My heart aches for those still so deeply caught in this thinking & I often imagine ways we can co-create a future without such harsh & unrealistic standards. I am grateful for the connections where we can meet each other as the beings we truly are, far more dynamic than perfect or ish & all the other boxes we imprison ourselves & each other with can account for. I have dedicated my life to creating spaces that can hold these truths & so many of us feel the energy shifting, feel more & more of us imagining outside of what we have experienced, it's moving exponentially. We are creating the future now, whether we do so consciously, intentionally & collectively or not. What do you want to see?

Narrator: "will not reveal where they're heading" Also Narrator: Shows the whole travel with all the highways and buildings along their journey

The lady isn't even mad at him for disappearing - she's just worried about his health... :(

Life goals

I love the outro music think I'll learn it on piano

I have pretty much "vanished" from society. I stay home months on ends only to go out when it dark for work or food, I have not keep in touch with any friends for years and im pretty happy.