Lost & Found

[kurohinge1]

A few months ago I sat in a train late one night only to look out and see my umbrella still patiently waiting on the platform to board the train. We were reunited momentarily - and in time to rejoin the train - but things did not go so well for this lass:

[SIZE="4"]18-year-old Japanese woman loses Y8 mil antique violin on Austrian subway[/SIZE]

Austrian media reported Wednesday that an 18-year-old Japanese tourist on a trip in August left her antique violin, made in 1792 and worth 60,000 euros (8 million yen), on the subway in Vienna. . .

. . . the girl was riding the subway with another Japanese woman on Aug 6. She had with her a suitcase and the case containing the violin, but when she got out at West Vienna station, approximately 3 kilometers from the city center, she forgot to retrieve the violin.

The girl noticed the missing violin seconds later, but the train had already departed. . . . more

What have you lost, almost lost and/or found?

[IkemenTommy]

"Bwahahahaha..." - Takechamp

Japantoday must be slacking today if this is their main headline.

[james]

[quote="kurohinge1"]What have you lost, almost lost and/or found?

]

hmm.. i'm good at losing sunglasses, though a few years ago i had help losing a pair. was with a group of students touring canada and got one of 'em to hold on to my sunglasses as i loaded their (much too heavy) luggage up the steps onto the via train - it was bright out but dark in the boarding area.

it was dark when we got off the train so i didn't realize for a few minutes that i'd passed them off to my student and then remembered to ask her for them back.

student: "they're in the pocket"
me: "what pocket?"
student: "on the back of the seat, on the train"
me: "that train that ...just left.. great"

[sillygirl]

Think I lost my mind a few times in Japan...

[FG Lurker]

Think I lost my mind a few times in Japan...

Sanity is overrated.

[canman]

Found a wallet with Y250 000 in it at Narita airport. For about 30 seconds or so, thought I had hit the jackpot, then my conscience kicked in and I thought about the poor schmuck who lost it, and would have ruined their vacation, so I took it into the police box. Never even got a reward for it.

[Mulboyne]

Found a wallet with Y250 000 in it at Narita airport. For about 30 seconds or so, thought I had hit the jackpot, then my conscience kicked in and I thought about the poor schmuck who lost it, and would have ruined their vacation, so I took it into the police box. Never even got a reward for it.

Morally, of course, you did the right thing and should be applauded. Legally, since you would have broken the law by not handing it in, you were also right. Practically speaking, you were probably also right given that it was at Narita. That's a reasonable sum for anyone to lose so there's a fair chance that local law would have checked the myriad cameras at the airport to track it down. If they had spotted you finding it and you hadn't handed it in then it could have been a bit sticky.

[GomiGirl]

I found a video camera on Mt Mitake once - actually it was the day of the "proposal" so definitely good karma. But it was a crappy old camera and I didn't really want it and to have to schlep it back down the mountain would have been harder than handing it into the temple staff.

So, I handed it in but was a bit annoyed by having to give so many details about my name etc and then had 5 follow-up phone calls from the police about it over the next week or so. They wanted to know what I wanted in return if it was claimed - reward etc. Or if it wasn't claimed, did I want the item etc etc. It was a real PITA.

But the person claimed it and sent me a few beer tickets and a very cute letter from the guy and his son who lost it on their day trip. It made me feel all warm inside to know I had been a good citizen.

I have lost and had returned to me over the last 10 years keitais, meishi cases etc. Nothing of real value - yet. So that is why I am hoping my good karma will keep me in good stead should I ever lose anything of value.

[GomiGirl]

There was something else I just remembered.. a friend of mine registered her bike at my address under her name as she hadn't found a new apartment when she purchased the bike. She left Japan a few years later and sold the bike onto a friend who then sold it to a different friend. The new owner/s had never changed the registration details.

I recieved a phone call late one Saturday from the police when I was at a gig with gomichild and it turned out that the bike (a purple mama-chari) had been found in the possession of a 16 year old boy who had stolen it.

So it all came back to me, so I tracked down the owner of the bike and she said that it had been stolen a few weeks earlier and was pleased to be able to get it back. But we all had to truck down to the police station to sort it all out.

The guy who stole it had to have his father report in for him - I am sure he had the stuffings beaten out of him for that...

[tidbits]

Almost Lost- I am copying and pasting my recent post in another thread about my experience:

I left my son and my own passports, birth certs, my mariage cert and all others important documents (to me) beside a ATM machine at my station. I only realised this in Omotesando which was already after about 40 minutes including a change train, rush down to the Lost and Found Office asking them to find in the train for me, after about 20 mins trying not to faint, I realised I might had left it at the ATM machine, I asked the Metro staff for the station's koban phone number and beg them to go and check for me. And he put me on hold, went to find and found it.

Found many small things at the malls/parks over the years, can't remember what are the items, normally just pass it to the information counter or staff. Found credit cards on 2 diffrennt occasions, reported to the credit cards company, and they rewarded me some cash voucher later.

[Takechanpoo]

This is my repentance.

When I was a high school student, I found a lady bag in a bench of Aoyama theater. It contained wallet(80,000 yen), glasses, cheap jewlryes, the owner's purikura and insurance card etc. I stole only 80,000 yen and abandoned the remain into Kanda river near my school in Suginami ward. According to her insurance card, she seemed to be over 60 year old.

I am still sorry for it each time when I recall it.
I just needed the money.......

[FG Lurker]

Back in the spring of 1996 I left my wallet in a taxi while on my way to work. The wallet had my rent money in it (70,000 or so) which was a helluva lot of cash for me at the time. You can imagine the sheer panic when I reached for my wallet to get out my teiki and found nothing in my back pocket...........

I ran down the road hoping to catch up to the taxi at the next light but couldn't find it anywhere. Couldn't remember the name of the taxi company and figured that was the last I would see of my wallet, ID, credit cards, and of course rent money. Just as I was walking back up the stairs into the station the taxi driver found me and handed back the wallet, complete with everything in it.

I couldn't really speak Japanese at the time so it was tough to express how grateful I was, but I hope he understood. I should have given him a reward of some sort but at the time it didn't occur to me (I think I was in shock from losing it actually...)

I have found various small things over the years and always tried to get them back to their owners. The only big thing that happened was one day at a subway station. I was standing in front of a machine getting out change to buy a ticket. Just as I looked up at the machine a big wad of bills popped out of it. No idea how much cash there was, but it was a decent stack. I think my eyes just about popped out of my head, couldn't believe what I was seeing. I removed it from the machine and was about to knock on the window/door thing beside the machine when it opened and a very panicked looking employee was extremely happy to see me there handing back the stack of bills.

Had a girlfriend who left a diamond ring by the sink in a hotel's public restroom once. She noticed a few minutes later and we ran back but it was gone... Checked with a nearby hotel employee and someone had turned it in...!

These sorts of things are one of the aspects of Japan that I really appreciate.

[GomiGirl]

These sorts of things are one of the aspects of Japan that I really appreciate.

I think all of us appreciate it.. It is certainly good ju-ju to do the right thing.

It does make it easy to hand stuff in when there are so many kobans and train station offices etc. I often pick up dropped gloves, dropped cardigans etc on train stations and just hand them into the train station office as I walk through.

[Tsuru]

This is my repentance.

When I was a high school student, I found a lady bag in a bench of Aoyama theater. It contained wallet(80,000 yen), glasses, cheap jewlryes, the owner's purikura and insurance card etc. I stole only 80,000 yen and abandoned the remain into Kanda river near my school in Suginami ward. According to her insurance card, she seemed to be over 60 year old.

I am still sorry for it each time when I recall it.
I just needed the money.......

The real question is what you needed the money for

[Amanojakuu]

The real question is what you needed the money for

Has this not already been discussed elsewhere?

[Amanojakuu]

I lose stuff all the time, one of the reasons I came back to Japan was because that stuff usually comes back to me here. I've lost:

- My mobile in Ame-mura, turned up again several days later at my flat
- A wallet up a mountain, while snowboarding. Wallet turned up back at my flat 4 months later, post thawing (minus the notes, though they could have rotted). I think that's the most epic return I've had
- My mobile charger multiple times in hotels
- I once left my ex-girlfriends parents present in an airport. It was of course confiscated due to being potentially dangerous. She became an ex a few weeks later :s
- I forgot to close the door the other day, only to give my next door neighbour a view of myself in my pants as she came back from work

All in all, pretty forgetful

[james]

in one of my more absent-minded moves, i left my inkan at the atm - it had come out of my bag (i'm well aware that one doesn't need it to use the atm ) and i forgot it there.

not ten minutes later i got a call saying someone had turned it in.. though i imagine around here someone else trying to use it would arouse some suspicion.

[tidbits]

Talking about absent minded..I can put in a Suica card in the ticketing machine, and the next second finding high and low for it until I have to head back to where I was, asking the lost and found dept (was in the community hall/ library),and went on searching on the street if I have dropped it somewhere, 20-25 minutes later the JR eki-in called me asking me why I left my card in the machine .