Two weeks ago, Andy Lathrop, a UW-Madison sophomore from Menasha, Wis., went missing in Hakodate, Japan. Lathrop was last heard from Aug. 15 before he failed to meet his friend, Ariel Smoke, at the train station where the two were to catch a train to Tokyo so they could fly home to the states.
Lathrop went to Japan last September as an intern for Labo, an international exchange program designed to teach Japanese children to read and write English.
For his last weekend in Japan, he and Smoke decided to take a trip together to Hakodate. On the day of his disappearance they made plans to split up so he could hike in a national park an hour's train ride away.
But Lathrop discovered a beach and communicated to Smoke through text message that he would stay there instead. This message was the last Smoke received from him.
Lathrop then went to a rocky shore where a bridge was once connected to a small island. A few people there spoke to him and helped him put his electronics in a plastic bag before he waded across the water to the island.
Witnesses say they last saw him waving from the island.
After he had not returned to meet Smoke that afternoon at the train station, she contacted the Labo and the local police who searched the area.
Days passed with no evidence of Lathrop. His family flew to Japan last Saturday and searched for almost a week to no avail.
\On the outside I'm holding up really good, but on the inside I'm really mushy,"" said Lathrop's mother Lesley.
According to Maki Shimotani, Lathrop's Japanese teacher, he was a good student, enthusiastic and very respectful.
Lathrop said he was originally going to major in international business but recently switched to architecture.
He was fluent in Japanese and also spoke Spanish, French and a little German.
""People thought he was from Japan he spoke so well,"" said Kirsten Krudwig, UW-Madison junior and close friend of Andy.
The family set up a website, www.findandy.org, which accepts donations to help locate their son.
""It's pretty hard, you always think it's someone else's kid it's going to happen to and when it hits home, it's very hard,"" Lathrop said.
