A UN committee has asked Japan to provide information on a French woman who went missing while sightseeing in a Japanese city five years ago.

Tiphaine Veron, 36 at the time, was last seen leaving her accommodation in the city of Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, in July 2018. Police in Japan are still searching for her.

The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances had taken an emergency measure by the end of April to ask the Japanese government to provide information on the missing case.

A document released by the committee says French authorities opened a probe into Veron's disappearance as a kidnapping case and asked Japanese police to collect cellphone data in 2018 and in 2021. But it says the authorities received no response.

In the latest move, the committee says it asked the Japanese government to coordinate with French authorities as best as possible, while providing information.

It says the request was made based on the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Japan's Foreign Ministry says the Japanese government is responding appropriately. It says police in Tochigi Prefecture have been searching for the missing woman since they became aware of the case and the ministry understands that the search will continue.