Lost and Found

I have seen a BBC article floating around Facebook recently about how lost things actually get returned in Japan.  It is such a novel concept in most of the world, but here it is just a fact of life.  When I lost my cell phone, it was handed into the police station the same day.  When my son left his Hike it Baby hat on a bus, it was turned into the bus depot lost and found.  

Over the years, I have heard story after story of items being lost and returned.  There is a real mentality of "this isn't mine, but it must be someone's" unlike the "finders/keepers" concept I grew up with.

On Monday, we headed to Nerima Children's Forest for a day of fun in the mud.  When the day was over, I focused on getting my son washed up and out of the park as quickly and easily as possible.  I had left his change of shoes in my bicycle basket and ended up carrying him, as well as all our stuff, back to the bike.  As far as leaving the beloved park goes, it went super smoothly.

The next day, we were heading out the door to play in Ueno and I realized I must have left his neck warmer at the mud park.  I was disappointed, but consoled myself by realizing that winter is almost over.  It wasn't a huge loss, even though my son loved it and used it almost daily.

Wednesday evening, my son wanted to play ayatori magic (tricks with a string, similar to cat's cradle) and asked me for his string.  I told him it was in his REI coat pocket.  He quickly reported that he couldn't find his coat.  In a huff, I went to help him only to discover that it wasn't there!  

We had left his rain coat, warm liner, and neck warmer at Nerima Children's Forest.  Ugh!  I felt so frustrated.  Losing one item was unfortunate, but 3?  That was too much.

After complaining to a friend, she reminded me I was in Japan and the outerwear was most likely still at the park.  

After dropping my son off at school today, I headed over to the park.  It is a 25 minute ride, so I was really hoping they would be there.  When I arrived at the park, I walked right up to the office.  When the staff member opened the door, I told her I had left the coats and neck warmer.  She reached to her right and picked them up.  "You mean these?  I have them here for you!" she replied.

I was amazed.  I had convinced myself that they were long gone.  I just went on the off chance that I could claim them.  I laughed and replied "in the US these would not have been here.  Thank you so much!"

Now when people ask me if that BBC article is true, I have several personal examples to prove things find their way back to you in Japan.