Disappearance of Asami Chida

Asami Chida disappeared in Muroran, Iburi, Hokkaido, Japan, on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 6, 2001. At the time she was a sixteen-year-old student at Hokkaido Muroran Sakae High School, living in the Hakuchodai area. Her school was closed that day due to entrance examinations. The investigation into her disappearance has become known as the Muroran High School Girl Disappearance Case.

Security camera footage placed Asami at the Muroran Saty store (now the Aeon Muroran Store) in the Higashimachi locality of Muroran, where she was seen speaking with a friend. She is believed to have then boarded a Chuocho-Kodai Loop Line (Outer Loop) bus to travel to a part-time job at a bakery in the Chiribetsucho District, where she had been asked to come in for coffee-making training. She got off the bus near the bakery and was not seen again. The last recorded use of her phone was before 2 p.m. that day; she reportedly told a friend or boyfriend on the phone that she could not talk and would call back later. She was wearing green leather shoes, blue jeans, a beige blazer, and a Burberry scarf at the time she vanished.

Over the years, police have received hundreds of tips and considered several theories, but no conclusive evidence has been found regarding what happened to her. The owner of the bakery where Asami had been scheduled for training that afternoon became a person of interest in the case. He provided an alibi, stating he had been with his mother at the time of her disappearance. He was placed under police surveillance and questioned, and his house and car were searched. Years later, after his house was demolished, police searched the foundations using heavy machinery but did not find anything connected to the case. The bakery itself eventually closed for financial reasons.

The Muroran Police Station and Hokkaido Prefectural Police continue to seek information about Asami's whereabouts, and more than 40,000 investigators have been assigned to the case over time. Missing-person posters bearing her photograph have been displayed in Muroran for decades, and the National Research Institute of Police Science produced an image estimating her possible appearance in her thirties. Her high school has stated that she remains on leave and may return at any time to complete her studies. Local Muroran media have continued to mark anniversaries of her disappearance with public appeals for information, most recently around the 24-year mark in 2025.