The body of James ‌Higginbotham, 20, was discovered in a mountainous area by a volunteer search-and-rescue group, Nancy Higginbotham wrote.

A cause of death and further details were not immediately available.

“Our family is heartbroken,” she said. “The grief we feel is ⁠impossible to put into words.”

Higginbotham, an Alabama resident ‌and an engineering student at Auburn University, was last seen leaving a Kyoto railway station ‌on May 29.

Later that night, his phone ⁠went dark and ⁠its location services were turned off, his mother previously said.