How to reconnect with a lost friend in Japan?

My Grandad wants to reconnect with a dear from he knew 20ish years ago. They came to visit him in the UK then he went to visit them in Japan. All he has left of them are some addresses and names. This year he sent letters to 3 addresses and has got nothing back yet (we are hoping for a delayed reply). Most of this person's family has been estranged and we can't find anyone on Facebook. What should we do?

Come to Japan.And visit those 3 address.or,contact with city hall.

You should study Japanese.
I wrote everything here how to find it.

あなた自身が祖父を連れ日本に行くべき案件だとは思うが、その前にあなただけで出来る事は幾つも有る。
先ず、君自身が「FB」のアカウントを取得し祖母の写真や細かい情報を公開する。(もし、まだならば)
日本の住所から英語が使える日本人か、その地域に住んでいる外国人を探し連絡を取る。
上記とは別に、住所の有る市区町村役場に直接Eメールを送る。(死亡か転居したかを確認するため)
あなたの国の日本人、日本人旅行者にも何かヒントになる事がないか質問してみる。
あなたの国のラジオ番組や日本人が集まるレストランなどにも情報提供をお願いする。
YouTube、twitter、instagramのアカウントも取得し、動画の投稿やライブ放送を繰り返し行う。
このサイト以外の日本に詳しい外国人フォーラムにも投稿してみる。

もし本当に日本に来ることが可能でならば、彼等に強力を仰ぐべきだろう。
https://www.facebook.com/tx.youhananishini.eg/

However, pls tell us only the three municipalities.
Specific address and their names are unnecessary,
but I want to know my grandfather and their age.
The purpose for which they met yr grandfather would also be a big hint.

The purpose of wanting to know only a part of the address is that there is a possibility
that address has changed since there was a large municipal merger around 10 years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipal_mergers_and_dissolutions_in_Ja...

Excuse me, the above poster suggested contacting city halls, asking for help with other non-Japanese forums about Japan, spreading information at restaurants in UK where Japanese might gather, asking Japanese visitors to the UK, and posting a lot of personal info and photos on Facebook, but I don't know if that would be really appropriate.
Asking for help with a TV program (the link on facebook) sounds like a desperate pitch too.

City halls do not provide personal information about its residents to someone who are not relative but just are looking for them (unless that friend visited as part of city-to-city exchange program).
Posting more detailed, personal information might be somewhat risky as well.


As far as I can see, you (OP) have done what you could do - if you wrote to all three addresses and no response came back but also the letters were not returned as "undeliverable (no recipient found/no such address)," there is a good chance that it was delivered to his family home but that he no longer is there (moved out or passed away). It might be that they have no way to write back to you/your grandfather.

The only thing I can think of is writing them a letter enclosing a return postcard, where you write phrases in Japanese asking if (1) the person you are looking for is still there, (2) if not do they have their new address, etc., meaning in simple multiple choices then just some space for a new address, and see if they respond.

When you say "estranged" if you mean that friend and his family are not on friendly terms, then your chance might be low.

I agree with the other anonymous guest. Apart from that, have you Google Street Viewed the address? If you have language problems, just tell us the addresses EXCLUDING numbers.

For example, let's say an address is "1-2-3 Abc-cho, Def-ku, Tokyo". Just tell us "Abc-cho, Def-ku, Tokyo" part and someone will be able to tell you how to write it in Japanese. Then you could attach the address numbers to it and Google.

Google Street View provides you a virtual experience of visiting the home. It will be fun just doing that, and it may give you hints about how the resident of that home may be residing.

You can also hope for real-estate information such as ads of the home by searching the web without looking into a map.

You may not be able to contact the people themselves, but I do this a lot about people I've lost contact to, and it gives me comfort. Only a very small percentage of people are on facebook, especially when it comes to older people. But there are other ways to get information.