Mystery Pile Of Cash Left At Wakayama Shrine

[Mulboyne]

[floatl][/floatl]The Asahi carries a report (Japanese) that someone has left 40 million yen at a small shrine in Wakayama dedicated to Enmei Jizo, a deity for children and longevity. A 72 year old woman, a member of the committee which looks after the shrine, found three carrier bags filled with banknotes and coins when she stopped by to tidy up. She told the Asahi that it is common for people to leave small offerings of fruit or vegetables as well as coins and she thought that someone had left a bumper crop. She said she couldn't believe it when she took a look inside and saw 10,000 yen notes. The police have appealed for information but, if no-one comes forward before the 19th May, the money will become the property of the nineteen members of the shrine committee. If that happens, it seems likely they will spend some of the money on a new statue.

[GuyJean]

Saw it on the news tonight; that 'shrine' is a pile of shit along the roadside. I've seen better shrines at rest stops.. Drug money dump!

GJ

[Mulboyne]

The worst thing about these damn stories is that I start to daydream about being the person who discovers the huge stash of cash. On several occasions, I've started to wonder about the best way to launder the dough before realizing that it is only a fantasy.

[Taro Toporific]

...daydream about being the person who discovers the huge stash of cash. On several occasions, I've started to wonder about the best way to launder the dough before realizing that it is only a fantasy.

Way back in 1986, a duffel bag full of cash with 500,000,000 yen was found rotting in a ditch beside a rural road in Saitama on a Thursday. The lost money was on all the news shows of course because which was turned into cops. My old-Japan-hand buddy, Bob Licciardi, was all excited about it because, "Japanese often dump/lose more than one bag of cash at a time" and he could recognize the exaction location from the news video.

We spend the whole night arguing about turning in vs laundering any additional cash that could be found. I came up with a simple laundering plan involving cash real estate purchases of cheap one-room mansions for student rentals, but Bob swore up and down that nobody would claim that dumped money since it was already rotting so turning it in was the best plan. Bob had to work Friday and Saturday nights but he planned to take his motorcycle out to location and beat the bushes for more cash on Sunday.

On Sunday as Bob watched the noon news in horror as he saw that an additional 800,000,000 yen was found 300 meters from the first dump site at the exact spot he planned to start his hunt. And, nobody did claim that dumped money so it was legally kept by the two finders.

[GuyJean]

... On Sunday as Bob watched the noon news in horror as he saw that an additional 800,000,000 yen was found 300 meters from the first dump site at the exact spot he planned to start his hunt. And, nobody did claim that dumped money so it was legally kept by the two finders.

Faaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Good story.

GJ