Every year, millions of personal belongings are lost in Japan.
But unlike other countries, if you lose your phone or wallet in this country, you will most likely get it back.
All lost property is stored at the Lost Property Center in Lidabashi, Tokyo.
In 2019, a record number of 4.15 million lost and found items were turned in at this location.
Currently, the center stores more than 600,000 lost objects.
As Yukiko Igarashi, head of the Lost Property Center in Tokyo, explains, about 7,700 lost items were turned in daily.
“Tokyo has 20% of all lost items in Japan,” he says.
“And the item that has the highest recovery rate is the mobile phone.
“About 90% of lost mobile phones are returned to their owners,” he says.
The second most recovered item is wallets, Igarashi says. Almost 70% of these are returned to their owners.
“Another very common thing that goes missing is official documents,” he says, “such as driver’s licenses, health insurance cards, credit cards or store discount cards.”
Most lost items are often returned the same day they are lost.
But some are not so lucky and rarely return to their owners.
“The lowest recovery rate is for umbrellas, at less than 1%. You can easily replace a cheap plastic umbrella, so people often don’t look for them,” says Igarashi.
Ease of reporting
But what is the secret to the success of Japan’s lost and found system?
“Basically, all lost items are turned over to the ‘Koban’or police station,” says the head of the Lost Property Center.
At the Sukiyabashi Koban, Officer Wada says, “Police officer duties at the Koban include patrolling the area, accepting lost property, and filing lost property reports.”
“Also take care of people who are lost or drunk, listen to citizens about issues that could cause problems, and deal with traffic accidents or criminals,” he adds.
Koban officers show a different image than police officers elsewhere.
The community-based approach and ubiquity of the Koban make it easy to report a missing item.
“On average, we receive seven lost items a day at this Sukiyabashi Koban,” says Wada.
Claims
But what happens if no one claims the lost items?
“If the owner does not appear for a certain time [en la Koban]the article will be transferred to the Center [de Objetos Perdidos]Yukiko Igarashi explains.
And if no one picks up the item downtown, the person who returned it can claim it after three months.
If they prefer not to keep the item, ownership will be transferred to the city, which can auction it off.
“The most memorable item I’ve ever been given was an envelope containing $8,800 in cash,” says Agent Wada.
“I was surprised!” he says.
The head of the Lost Property Center Yukiko Igarashi explains that it is not unusual to see large sums of money like the one the police officer received.
“For me the most memorable objects were an artificial tooth and crutches. I wondered how the owner could return to his house without them?
“There are so many rare items that get lost!”
The efficient system makes it easy to return lost items. But this process would not be possible without the people of Japan.
“For more than 1,000 years, Japan has had a lost property law,” explains Igarashi.
“I personally believe that Japan’s moral education has played an important role in shaping our attitude toward lost property,” he says.
Even today, children are taught to return lost items.
“You often see children handing in lost items in the Koban with their parents,” says Igarashi, “even if it’s just a 100 yen ($0.88) coin.”
Professor Masahiro Tamura of Kyoto Sangyo University thinks that the first time most people interact with the police in their lives is perhaps when they go to hand over lost property to the Koban.
“This creates a close relationship between agents and ordinary citizens,” he says.
The Japanese concept of “hitono-me“, which means “eye of society”It is an important part of the process.
“Our internal morality often helps us to modify our behaviour,” says Professor Tamura, “but so does ‘the eye of society’.”
The culture prevents people from doing the wrong things, even without a police presence.
“Japanese people care a lot about how other people view their behavior, so their attitude towards lost property is linked to their image in society,” Tamura says.
Moral discipline is maintained even when natural disasters occur.
“Often when disasters happen in Japan, crime doesn’t increase,” says Tamura. “The only exception was during the Fukushima disaster, when we had crime cases.”
“So I guess the power of people’s eyes on us is much greater than the power of public authority,” he adds.
The pandemic reduced the number of lost objects in Japan. But still, the center received 2.8 million items.
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-60245190, IMPORTING DATE: 2022-02-19 15:10:05
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