Wallet lost in Tokyo

Equites · 23 Jul 2010

Hello All

I've just stumbled on this website and thought I would join. I have just returned from a holiday in Tokyo, it was a dream trip for me as I have wanted to go since I was a teenager. The trip was a surprise gift for my 40th birthday and I went with my wife.

I had a fantastic time, Tokyo was all I hoped it would be, a great city.

However, two days before I was due to leave, disaster struck. I was out all day shopping with my wife and we were travelling on the subway and JR lines. It had been raining all day and the air was very sticky. We got into the train station at Kanda and went to purchase more tickets to change lines for Tokyo. It was then to my horror I realised that I had accidently left my wallet at Ueno train station.

Because I had bags in both hands it was tough getting my change out from my front jeans pocket, the sticky air made it even more difficult. I also had my wallet in this pocket and had to remove it and place it alongside the ticket machine at Ueno while I purchased two tickets. I forgot to pick the wallet back up.

So I窶冦 at Kanda station at 21:00 with my wife and we have no Yen, all the Yen was in my wallet and we only have enough change for one person to Tokyo. I had all my bank cards in the wallet, 100GBP and 4,000Yen. My wife had money but it was GBP and not Yen. So we are stuck at Kanda with no way home. I informed the ticket master, and he rings Ueno station to check if my wallet has been found, no luck. The ticket master eventually, advises to visit a small police station just a few yards away from the station.

We find the police station, it is very small and there is just one officer on duty. Since our Japanese is very poor it was difficult to explain to the officer what had happened. Luckily, my wife had a picture chart and eventually after some time we were able to explain to the officer what had happened. The police officer was around 55 years old I would guess, and an incredibly patient man, he dealt with us like a true gentleman. He made us fill out a lost item form and we explained that we had no money to get home. So, he took us back to Kanda station, pulled out his wallet and bought us two tickets back to Tokyo. I was so grateful to him, he really helped us.

Anyway, once I got back to the hotel, I advised the hotel staff on what had happened and asked them to call Ueno stations Lost Property for me in the morning since my Japanese is poor.

Anyway, the hotel rang my room in the morning to advise that Ueno station have found my wallet and to collect it. A Japanese woman had handed it in.

Once I got back to Ueno station to collect my wallet, I could not believe that all the contents of my wallet were intact including the cash, this would never happen back home. I was told that the chances of getting lost property back in Japan are high, as long as a foreigner does not pick the items up.

Anyway, I want to write a letter to Japan Police to thank this officer for the way he helped us, unfortunately because of my lack of Japanese language I was not able to thank him personally the way I wanted.

This is in sharp contrast to Dubai, when I left a camcorder in a Taxi. I managed to find the Taxi driver again but no camcorder. When I visited a Police Station (after searching for 3 hours) to raise a lost report I was met with pure hostility. It was a very unpleasant experience.

Does anyone have an address I can use to commend this officer?

Thanks

Harvey · 29 Jul 2010

I once forgot my backpack with my laptop inside on a train in Nara. I came back a few hours later to pick it up and got it back no problems. I was living in Japan already for about 5 years at that time, so I really expected that it would be there when I went back, and the train had already left the station when I realized that I had left it behind.

Gotta love that in Japan. I hope that environment lasts.

Anyway, no idea how you can thank the guy. Don't worry about it though. I'm sure he feels great just knowing he was able to help you out.

- Harvey

Davey · 29 Jul 2010

One of the great things about Japan!!! (not sure how long it is going to stay like this though....)

Pachipro · 30 Jul 2010

Equites, I had a similar experience about 20 years ago (Losing My Wallet) and had the same outcome as yourself. Everything was there with nothing missing. Did they give you the name of the person who turned it in and their address and phone number? If so, you should write or call them or have someone do it for you. As far as the policeman is concerned you can probably contact them through the internet. If you know the exact spot where the koban was you can mention it along with the time if you do not know his name.

It's nice to know that some things in Japan have not changed even after 20 years.

Dutch Baka said:
One of the great things about Japan!!! (not sure how long it is going to stay like this though....)

Why do you say that Dutch? Are things changing after all these years?

epigene · 30 Jul 2010

Pachipro said:
Why do you say that Dutch? Are things changing after all these years?

I'm not Dutch, but I think things are starting to change.

Of course, many are honest and friendly, but the economic situation has driven many people to crime. Loss of a wallet is more likely now than in the past, especially in the big cities where there is a large concentration of unemployed.

That said, however, I recovered my purse holding all of my valuables and cash I had during a recent trip in western Japan--thanks to a young college student and very friendly police officers in the countryside.

Mike Cash · 30 Jul 2010

Cut-n-paste of an essay I posted a few years ago:

While driving to work recently, I noticed an object fall from the roof of a car heading in the opposite direction. The windows on the other car were all rolled up, so quite obviously the object hadn't been tossed by the driver. It couldn't be trash.

Even though I was running late for work (it was about 4:40 a.m.), I did a quick u-turn and went back to see what the object was. It was a Louis Vuitton billfold. Had the driver of the other car been driving sensibly I likely could have caught up and handed the billfold back to the owner. But the driver was ripping down the road like a bat out of hell, and had since made a turn. I quickly gave up on that plan of action. I opened the billfold to see if there were any sort of identification inside. I noticed a student ID from a junior college, and also noticed 6,000 yen in cash. The owner must have placed it on the roof of the car and forgotten to retrieve it before speeding away.

What to do with it? I was already running late. Take it to Tokyo with me and then turn it in to the police when I got finished, probably about 8 or 9 o'clock that night? Or take it to the police right away in order to put the owner's mind at ease? From past experiences I knew that filling out all the paperwork would take up at least 30 minutes at the local police box. Mess around too long and I would end up paying large truck expressway tolls to Tokyo out of my own pocket.

I took it to the police box.

Nobody was there, however. So I picked up the phone receiver outside the police box door, a direct line to the main police station. I thought at least I would let them know the wallet had been found and would be turned in later. The owner was certain to call them. I wanted to make sure she knew it was safe and intact. Just then, though, a patrol car pulled up. The two officers manning the police box had been out patrolling. I told them what I had found and we went inside to do the paperwork.

Besides the 6,000 yen I had initially spotted, there turned out to have been an additional 42,000 tucked away somewhere. One of the cops pulled it out. Grand total: 48,667 yen. Nice little chunk of change. Her driver's license was also inside, so contacting her was going to be a simple matter for the police. No chance that I could exercise my claim to the total amount several months later. As I had expected, the paperwork took about half an hour.

As soon as I picked up the billfold and noticed the person on the ID was Japanese I immediately thought, "Judging by past experience, I won't get so much as a simple 'Thank you' for this...." You see, this wasn't the first time I had found a wallet in Japan. It was the fourth.

In Japan, the person who finds and turns in money has a legal right to receive a portion of it. The policeman said between 5% and 20%. 10% is the norm. When you turn in the money and fill out the paperwork, you receive a receipt for the wallet and all its contents. The only way the owner can retrieve the wallet is to come to you, pay the bounty, and get the receipt from you. He then takes the receipt to the police station and gets his things from the Accounting Section.

I'd lke to have an extra 5,000 yen or so. But I don't want it in the form of a statutorily mandated expression of gratitude. I also didn't want to make the owner have to go to the trouble of trying to catch me at home. When doing the paperwork, there is a small section on the form where the person who found the item can sign away his rights to the money. That's what I did. Not my rights should the item go unclaimed, but my right to collect the bounty. Four times I have found people's wallets. Four times I have willingly signed away my right to 10% of the money.

There won't be a fifth time.

Why won't there be a fifth time? Because my supply of the milk of human kindness has just about dried up. When the police hand over the goods, they always inform the person of the name and contact information of the person who did them a good deed. Care to guess how many have ever bothered to call and say thanks?

One.

One person out of four. One man called to express his gratitude in very polite Japanese, and to insist on giving me the money I had turned down when I turned in his wallet. I refused, and he sent my family a nice box of cookies anyway. The other three folks? Nothing. Not a word. Like it never happened.

Have you ever encountered folks who think Japan is a society where manners are extremely important? Folks who plan to come to Japan and who spend inordinate amounts of time worrying about saying or doing something that might give offense to a Japanese person? Tell them not to worry so damned much. In Japan, one only need be polite to and considerate of those one knows in a personal or professional capacity. Don't give strangers a second thought. If a stranger does you a kindness but you know you'll never be put in a position to face him, don't give him a second thought. Take it for granted and march right along.

Oh, I forgot to mention something....

The one person who called to say thanks and who sent cookies...he wasn't Japanese. He was an exchange student at grad school, a man from China.

And I couldn't even tell you the number of times I have stopped to help some Japanese person who was either injured or passed out drunk in the wee hours of the morning in the dead of winter. There were plenty of Japanese who just totally ignored the person, though. Wareware Nihonjin will step right over a fellow wareware Nihonjin on the sidewalk and keep right on going.

I have always said that if I ever get in injured or incapacitated on the street in Japan I pray to God there is another foreigner around. Otherwise I might lie there and bleed to death.

epigene · 30 Jul 2010

Oh, I did offer a box of sweets to the policemen and 10% of the cash in my purse to the college student....

The police officers told me they're not supposed to accept gifts from citizens but accepted cheerfully when I told them it's just one piece of Tokyo manju each.

The student refused at first and accepted when I insisted. He admitted he was out of money... Nice guy!

Pachipro · 31 Jul 2010

=epigeneI'm not Dutch, but I think things are starting to change.

Of course, many are honest and friendly, but the economic situation has driven many people to crime. Loss of a wallet is more likely now than in the past, especially in the big cities where there is a large concentration of unemployed.

Sorry to hear that it is getting that way. At least you got yours back. Hopefully, there will still be more honest people than not in Japan. However, if I lose or forget something, I automatically take it for granted that it's gone for good. If I get it back great, if not, well, I expected it.

@Mike Cash: Could it be that they were too shy/embarrassed to call you since you have a foreign name and didn't want the hassle of of speaking English. Did the police inform them that you were fluent? If they did, then that is just downright rude.

JonnyAndDeeDee · 7 Aug 2010

I have always said that if I ever get in injured or incapacitated on the street in Japan I pray to God there is another foreigner around. Otherwise I might lie there and bleed to death.

there was a story , years ago about a gaijin who walked out of a yoshinoya in roppongi one day and had a heart attack. He died and layed there for an hour before anybody stopped.
Anyway, it's great the way the Japanese return lost property. I left my bag on the yamanote sen once with a lot of money in it, and I just waited on the platform for one hour for the same train to return, and sure enough, it was there.
I forgot it another time when I was drunk, and got it back. And a little kid handed in my rolex to the local koban after I lost it during a late night snow fight - and I got it back. Nowhere else in the world!!!
I also like the way people hang up lost items such as sunglasses and phones that have been lost, in a place visible for the person to find it. There was a pair of Ray-ban sunglasses hanging from a pole near my local train station for weeks!

mdchachi · 21 Aug 2010

Mike Cash said:
Cut-n-paste of an essay I posted a few years ago:
Why won't there be a fifth time? Because my supply of the milk of human kindness has just about dried up. When the police hand over the goods, they always inform the person of the name and contact information of the person who did them a good deed. Care to guess how many have ever bothered to call and say thanks?

Mike I'm surprised at you. Much as you complain about others holding to their preconceived notions from other cultures that's what you're doing here. Yes, it's a "good deed" but it's a normal and expected thing to do. You find something, you turn it in (or at least not steal it*). A Japanese person who did that probably wouldn't expect a response and would not be bothered about not getting one. So I suggest keep doing the good deeds for your own sake, not for the sake of others.
.
.
.

* unless of course it's an unlocked umbrella or bicycle.

Mike Cash · 21 Aug 2010

mdchachi said:
Mike I'm surprised at you. Much as you complain about others holding to their preconceived notions from other cultures that's what you're doing here.

Please point out the many places I have done that.

Yes, it's a "good deed" but it's a normal and expected thing to do.

So are a great deal of other things the normal and expected thing to do. And it is still considered basic manners to thank others for the trouble they take in doing it.

A Japanese person who did that probably wouldn't expect a response and would not be bothered about not getting one.

1. I am not a Japanese person.
2. The day I need you to instruct me on living in Japan, I will let you know.

Just what "good deed" is it you are under the impression I am no longer going to be engaging in?

Wallet lost in Tokyo

Equites

後輩

Harvey

先輩

Davey

先輩

Pachipro

JREF Resident Alien

epigene

相変わらず不束者です

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

epigene

相変わらず不束者です

Pachipro

JREF Resident Alien

JonnyAndDeeDee

後輩

mdchachi

Moderator

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

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