I don't know if anyone remembers or even heard about this case, but Skye Lynn Budnick is a young American woman presumed missing (possibly dead) in Japan. She had planned to commit suicide there because she so identified with the culture and felt it was where she truly "belonged."

Here are links:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4666523
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351462,00.html
http://www.myrecordjournal.com/site/tab1.cfm?newsid=19504953&BRD=2755&PAG=461&dept_id=592709&rfi=6

I remember feeling a real connection with this story because I really love Japanese culture as well and could understand the young woman's feelings of alienation and awkwardness. Every once and awhile I do a Google search of her name hoping for an update or some sort of closure for her family, but none appears. I even enlisted a friend who's currently working in Japan to track down information, but she could come up with none.

Was/is anyone else interested in this case?