Best friend’s haunting final messages sent to student missing in Japan went unanswered: ‘I saw him as a brother’
A missing Auburn University student, James 'Weston' Higginbotham, vanished during a family trip to Japan. His best friend, Hiyu Shikari, shared their last text exchanges, expressing concern after failing to receive a response from Higginbotham. The search for Higginbotham has been hampered by severe weather conditions in the area where he was last seen.
- ▪Weston Higginbotham went missing during a family trip to Japan.
- ▪His last known location was in the Yamashina section of Kyoto, known for its dense forests.
- ▪Efforts to locate him have been complicated by Tropical Storm Jangmim, which brought severe weather to the region.
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US News Best friend’s haunting final messages sent to student missing in Japan went unanswered: ‘I saw him as a brother’ By Daniel Cody Published June 5, 2026, 8:19 p.m. ET See more of our coverage in your search results. Add The New York Post on Google The best friend of the missing Auburn University student who mysteriously vanished during a family trip to Japan revealed their haunting last text exchanges, shortly after the pair reunited in Tokyo. James “Weston” Higginbotham, 20, reconnected with Hiyu Shikari, 20, in Japan — they were close friends who attended the same middle school in the US before Shikari moved to the island around 2019.
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