Lost & Found Property System: A Mechanism Where Trust Is Built on Japanese Ethics

Daily behaviors that are almost taken for granted in Japan can be met with surprise or admiration by foreigners. One such example is the high probability that lost properties will be returned to their owners. 

“Tokyo has a global reputation for public safety with low crime and terrorism risks. Tokyo is a city where lost wallets are highly likely to be returned intact,” said Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko when the city ranked second globally for the first time in the Mori Foundation’s “Global City Competitiveness Ranking” late last year. 

The latest statistics released recently by the Metropolitan Police Department have substantiated such a reputation.  

According to the MPD’s Lost & Found Center, the cash found lying on the street, left on the train or elsewhere and was later brought to police boxes or police stations within Tokyo reached approximately ¥4.5 billion last year, up 0.5% from the previous year, a new record. And approximately ¥3.2 billion (some $20 million), or 72.3% of the total, was later returned to its owners. 

About ¥590 million was handed over to the finders as a reward, and approximately ¥680 million became revenue for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government due to such reasons as the owners not being identified. 

The MPD says that they received approximately 1.1 million reports of items lost or missing and about 4.5 million reports of items found last year, up 1.3 percent and 3 percent, respectively, from a year earlier. 

The number of cases that lost but found property was returned to the owner amounted to about 600,000, with the property returned to the owner reaching 1.3 million articles in all. 

When the found items are classified, “identification documents” such as credit cards, cash cards and drivers’ licenses were at the top of the list, totaling about 820,000 pieces. They were followed by securities like “commuter passes (IC cards)” at about 470,000 articles, and clothing and footwear at about 460,000 items. 

Ranked 4th were “small-sized electrical appliances,” such as wireless earphones, mobile fans and batteries, at about 400,000 items, showing the changing times. They were followed by wallets and similar properties, totaling about 340,000 articles. The property with the highest return rate was smartphones, reaching about 83 percent. 

According to the Lost & Found Center, there was an increase in the amount of foreign currency found, though it is unclear whether there is any direct link to the rise in inbound tourists. 

The Lost & Found Center receives a daily average of approximately 9,000 cases of lost & found properties brought in from koban (police boxes) and police stations in Tokyo, and about 7,000 cases of such properties from operators of railways running in central Tokyo. The number of such properties that are constantly held at the center totals approximately 1 million cases, according to the Lost & Found Center. 

Carts and shelves loaded with items brought
from railway operators, which are grouped by color.

What should you do if you have lost something on the street or elsewhere? 

How are those lost & found items handled in Tokyo? 

Those items that were found and brought into police boxes or police stations within Tokyo are to be kept there for two weeks. Meanwhile, those properties that were found left on the trains in Tokyo or found at large-scale shopping or amusement facilities will be kept there, respectively, for about 1-4 days. 

When the property’s owner was not identified or the property remained unclaimed within the period of keeping, the items will be brought into the Lost & Found Center and held there. The period of retainment is 3 months, in total, since the lost & found property was reported to the police or elsewhere. 

So, what should you do if you have lost something on the street, on the train or elsewhere? If you have a rough idea of where and when you have lost the item, inquire at the lost & found office of the railway operator or a customer service counter of shopping or amusement facilities. When the property is found to be kept there, and the owner is identified, you can recover it. 

If you don’t have any idea of where and when you have lost it, you must submit a “Lost Property Report” to a police box or police station. If the item you are looking for is found, you will be contacted by the police, and you can recover it at the police station or the Lost & Found Center. 

Rows of shelves stacked with suitcases. 

The police station to which the greatest number of lost & found properties, about 130,000 items, were brought last year was Tokyo Airport Police Station, with Haneda Airport under its jurisdiction. It is thought to have something to do with the increase in the number of users of the airport, including inbound tourists. 

In the case of filing a “Lost Property Report” at a police box or police station, an English form is also available. Meanwhile, a multilingual communication panel is at work at the Lost & Found Center, assisting foreign visitors to communicate with the officials. 

Multilingual communication panel. 

There are varied factors behind why lost properties would be returned to their owners in so many cases in Japan. For instance, there’s an ethical view among Japanese that “reporting the found property to the police box or the relevant office is the right thing to do, and it’s only natural,” and “the owner must be distressed after losing something important.” 

People may also be conscious of “what other people would think of me,” as an old Japanese saying goes, “Nothing is hidden from the eyes of Heaven,” which may act as a deterrent against dishonest behavior. 

Koban Giving a ‘Sense of Security’ to Local Communities 

It can be said that the administration related to “lost & found property” has taken hold from old times in Japan as a system in which the found properties will be reported through the goodwill of individuals, thereby having them returned to their owners. 

The police, for their part, are working hard to maintain the system as an important duty that is oriented towards people’s daily lives, and to meet their needs. Particularly, the role of the “koban,” a familiar social infrastructure that gives a sense of security to local communities, is important. 

There are 825 police boxes within Tokyo, including in the 23 wards, the Tama area, and the islands. 

Established in the Meiji era and subsequently taken hold widely in Japanese society, the police box system has built trust with local communities through crime prevention, consultation services, and the handling of lost & found properties. It can be said, as a consequence, that Japanese people have come to have a sense of trust in police boxes and police officers, thinking, “If I find some item on the street, I can just take it to the police box nearby.” 

Furthermore, the koban system has been widely adopted overseas, as well. Introduced in Singapore in 1983 as the first koban overseas through Japan’s technical cooperation, it has since been adopted in other countries in Asia and Latin America, where its contribution to crime prevention in local communities is highly regarded. 

Therefore, it can be said that the system to deal with lost & found properties in Japan comprises of and functions through various factors working in sync: 1) Honesty of the Japanese people and their consideration to others; 2) Railway operators’ daily check on properties left on the trains, and their customer services for handling them, along with those of large-scale commercial facilities, which are linked to the goodwill of individuals; and 4) The koban system that has taken roots in local communities. 

’Lost & Found Locker’ set up at the entrance. 

As mentioned above, a massive number of items are brought into the Lost & Found Center every day. Despite such, officials unveiled one of those heartwarming incidents they had experienced. 

According to the Lost & Found Center, it received as lost & found property a pair of glasses for children. It also found a lost property report filed by a foreign traveler, whose circumstances described in the report fairly matched the one that explained where and when it was found. Through detailed verification, it was confirmed to be the glasses belonging to the child of the traveler. They were sent, via a proxy, to the owner who had already returned home. 

Subsequently, a photo of the child wearing the glasses was sent to the Lost & Found Center, together with a message expressing a deep gratitude that the specially made glasses had been returned. Shown in the photo was a very happy smile of the child, which, according to its official, “made us smile in happiness, too.” 

The fact that a system has firmly taken hold, a system in which “lost & found properties” are highly likely to be returned to their owners, is a source of pride for Japanese society.  

And the experience of “getting a lost item back” may bring a priceless value that cannot be measured in monetary terms to the owner, particularly to a foreign visitor. It may also enhance his/her sense of reassurance in Japanese society and their trust in the Japanese people. 

"Lost ＆ Found" related page on the Metropolitan Police Department’s official site:
Lost And Found (落とし物) 警視庁
Youtube: https://youtu.be/0HwqzXlh_xg