Police are continuing to search for a 7-year-old girl who went missing after she left her home in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, to go to a nearby park on Friday.
The family of Saya Minami, a first-grader, on Monday released a message pleading for the girl to come home.
Minami was supposed to go to the park with her mother but left the house on her own at around 11:30 a.m. Friday, with her mother following after her around five minutes later, the police said, adding that by then, the girl was nowhere to be found.
Later on Friday, the kick scooter the girl had with her was found at another park in neighboring Nagareyama, the police said.
Her shoes and socks were then found the next morning on the banks of the Edo River, about 300 meters from the same park, according to the police, who also conducted a search in the water and by helicopter.
The elementary school that Minami attends held an all-school meeting on Monday, with its principal explaining the incident to students. Teachers patrolled the area around the school to watch over the children, according to the Matsudo Education Board.
The education board is considering sending a counselor to the school, they said.
Police are searching for information, describing Minami as 115 centimeters tall with short black hair, wearing a pale pink T-shirt, blue shorts and pink sneakers.
