Hiroko Nemoto was a 36-year-old Japanese national and Michigan State University senior who disappeared after traveling to Alaska in early June 1998. She was last seen in Anchorage around June 7, 1998. Nemoto had been an excellent psychology student but became distressed after receiving a lower-than-expected grade; friends say she sold many personal belongings and gave away Japanese mementos in the days before leaving. Scheduled to fly home on June 3, she instead bought a one-way ticket and flew from Lansing to Anchorage, telling a friend she planned to stay in Alaska for a month but not informing her family.

Her movements in Alaska include a night at Denali Windsong Lodge, a night at an Anchorage youth hostel, and travel north to Wasilla on June 7. Records show she purchased a train ticket from Anchorage to Whittier and a ferry ticket from Whittier to Valdez; those tickets reportedly were used, but she never checked into a Valdez hotel where she had a reservation. Her mother contacted the Japanese Consulate about a month after Hiroko’s arrival when regular weekly calls went unanswered, and East Lansing police were notified. The exact timeline after the last confirmed sighting remains unclear and no further contact has been reported.

Did anyone in Alaska or Michigan have contact with Hiroko during that June 1998 trip or notice her after June 7?