What are night movers (yonige-ya) in Japan?
Short answer
Yonige-ya, "night movers", are Japanese businesses that help people leave their lives discreetly, often overnight: they pack and move everything, arrange somewhere new to live and sometimes find work in another city. People who vanish this way are called johatsu, "evaporated people". Thousands disappear each year.
Clients include people escaping debt, abusive partners, stalkers or employers. The trade grew in the 1990s, when Japan's debt crisis left many people with no way out.
In Part 5 you're on the run with six and a half million dollars, and a fixer offers the same service. Her fee is one million, and she has one rule: nobody you love gets to know.
Sources: Al Jazeera, 101 East: Japan's Evaporated People · GBH News (2017)
US federal rules, explained for a story. Not legal advice.