Kyoto Pref. Police Widen Search for Missing Boy to Mountains with Holiday Homes

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:16 JST, April 7, 2026

KYOTO — The Kyoto prefectural police began Tuesday searching the mountainous area near the home of an 11-year-old boy who went missing in March while on his way to school in Nantan, Kyoto Prefecture.

According to the police, they began searching the area north of the boy’s house, which is about 9 kilometers southwest of Sonobe Elementary School. The boy, Yuki Adachi, was last seen near the school. Several roads and paths leading to the mountainous area, which is close to a region scattered with vacation homes, were cordoned off. Police vehicles and officers were seen coming and going there on Tuesday.

Adachi, now a sixth grader, went missing after exiting a family car about 200 meters from the school building at about 8 a.m. on March 23. On March 29, his school bag was discovered in a mountainous area about 3 kilometers northwest of the school.

According to the school and other sources, the school’s security footage did not capture any images that could be identified as Adachi, and there have been no eyewitness reports of him being seen by students or their guardians walking to school around that time.

On March 25, the police released Adachi’s photo, along with information about the clothes he was wearing the day he went missing, and asked the public for information.