SANTA MONICA : Lone Youth Shopping for U.S. School Sent Back to Japan

A 15-year-old boy was sent back to his native Japan this week after arriving alone in Los Angeles, with a passport and $2,000 in traveler’s checks, and attempting to enroll at Santa Monica High School.

The youth apparently had his parents’ permission to visit the United States and scout for a permanent school, according to Atsuo Saegusa, spokesman for the Japanese Consulate in Los Angeles. But Saegusa added that the parents may have been unaware that the boy had no planned accommodations or a chaperon for his stay.

Santa Monica police took the boy into custody because he seemed lost after appearing at the Police Activities League, a city-sponsored program for at-risk youth. Police would not release his name or hometown because he is a juvenile.

“He said he didn’t like Japan and would rather live here in the U.S.,” said one city official, who added that the boy inquired about enrolling in Santa Monica High School or in the Los Angeles school system. “He didn’t look much like a runaway.”

Police contacted the boy’s mother in Japan, who agreed to have him released to the custody of a friend in Pasadena, according to Sgt. Gary Gallinot of the Santa Monica Police Department. The boy boarded a plane bound for Tokyo on Thursday, Gallinot said.