Johatsu

A podcast episode that popped up in my feed this week was immediately interesting to me. Given my ongoing interest in missing people, and a side interest in people who choose to disappear, it's notable that I hadn't heard of Johatsu and the Night Movers before. Enjoyed the podcast and did more reading on this elusive story...

Tokyo's johatsu are said to disappear into the Sanya district's streets

In Japan, if you want to disappear from your life, you can just pick up the phone and a ‘night moving company’ will turn you into one of the country’s ‘johatsu,’ or literally ‘evaporated people.’ You can cease to exist. Meet the people who choose to disappear and the people who are left behind..." [listen to the podcast on the BBC].

Of the many oddities that are culturally specific to Japan — from cat cafés to graveyard eviction notices to the infamous Suicide Forest, where an estimated 100 people per year take their own lives — perhaps none is as little known, and curious, as “the evaporated people.”... [read more in the New York Post].

There is a book on the phenomena, entitled The Vanished (by Léna Mauger). Sadly, there is no audiobook and before paying crazy prices before buying a used hardcover, I checked out the reviews.... and they were not very good (Goodreads reviews).

Actually, there are two. The other, entitled The Night Movers (by Shou Hatori), has done its own vanishing act... can't find it in any form. Hmmm. It's a shame, as this guy was a night mover.

Aspiring authors: there is a book here! Just be sure to include an audiobook.

Japan's 'evaporated people' have become an obsession for this French couple - Pri.org story and podcast
Do Stressed-Out Japanese Really Stage Elaborate Disappearances? On the Trail of the Johatsu or 'Evaporated People' - Time
The chilling stories behind Japan’s ‘evaporating people’ - New York Post
Rulebreakers: How I Disappear - BBC: The Documentary Podcast