According to a media report, 3.6 billion Japanese Yen in lost cash were brought to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Lost & Found Center in 2016. Seventy-four percent of it was returned to the owners.

Have you ever seen a cell phone on the seat of a train or taxi? Or perhaps an umbrella left leaning against a subway door? These are typical items we tend to leave behind.

One day in June, I went to a hospital in Hiroo for a medical check-up. After I was done, I left the medical center to go home. On the way, I realized I had lost my silver ring.  I looked for it in my purse and pocket, but I could not find it. 

The following day, the medical center called me. They told me that they had found my ring in the locker room. I rushed to the hospital, hoping to get my ring back. It’s a tiny silver ring and someone must have picked it up and returned it to the reception. Yes, I got it back safely.

Relieved to have my ring back, I went to a cafe to celebrate with a cup of coffee. When I returned home, however, I realized that my umbrella was missing.  Yes, I left it at the coffee shop.  I rushed back and asked the shop clerk whether he had noticed an umbrella.  He had found my umbrella on the seat and had kindly kept it at the reception.  I was so careless.

My husband laughed at my carelessness that day. The next day, he came home earlier than usual.  He said he had lost his mobile phone, probably on the train or at Fujisawa station on the Odakyu line. He was upset, and his face turned pale.  The daily stock price data and telephone database were stored in it.  He called the railway station to ask about it, but could not get any information that day.

The next day the Odakyu clerk called him. The clerk told him that his mobile phone had been found on the train. It was being stored in a safe place at the Odawara Station.  He immediately rushed off to Odawara to get it back.

In the end, we truly realized that Japanese people are very honest. They hand in anything they find to the police boxes in their neighborhoods. Tokyo is a safer place than any other big city in the world.