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Finders, keepers

A look at Tokyo's lost and found centre

Story by HANS GREIMEL

If it can be lost on the streets of Tokyo, it can be found in the city's largest lost-and-found centre, where everything from diamond rings to dentures and millions of dollars in stray cash await their rightful owners.

On any given day, about 800,000 items pack the four-storey warehouse, with 5,000 new ones trucked in every morning.

"I'm not surprised any more by what people lose," says the custodian, veteran police officer Nobuo Hasuda.

"As the city gets bigger and people get richer, they simply have more things to lose," Hasuda said. "No other city in Japan has a system so complex."

Recently, someone turned in a martial arts suit for traditional Japanese fencing -- freshly used and still reeking of sweat. "We had to wash it out because it smelled so bad," Hasuda said.

Last year, about 1.62 million articles passed through the centre, making it possibly the world's single biggest lost-and-found. Add together the coins and notes found in people's lost wallets, the centre receives roughly 2.5 billion yen or 890 million baht. Every year, there are 220,000 articles of clothing, 30,000 mobile phones and 18,000 eyeglasses. One good samaritan turned in a phone card worth only 42 cents (about 20 baht). It's now tagged and waiting in a cluttered drawer.

Sometimes honesty pays off. Back in 1980, 100 million yen (35.7 million baht) went unclaimed, and its finder became the keeper of the money, Hasuda said.

The stockpiles of lost goods in Tokyo are so big, in part, because a national lost-and-found law requires police to store items for six months and two weeks. After that, the items can be claimed by the finder.

Hasuda's staff of 30 police officers tries to contact owners of items whenever they are able to find out who it belongs to.

Tetsuro Takahashi was one of them. The centre called his mobile phone operator when his mobile phone turned up. "I'm pretty lucky," said the 30-year-old after reclaiming the phone. "I had been drinking and didn't even notice when I'd dropped it on the train."

VOCABULARY

denture (n): false teeth
stray (n): person or thing that is not in the right place or is separated from others of the same kind
custodian (n): person who takes responsibility for taking care of or protecting something
reek (v): smell very bad
samaritan (n): person who gives help and sympathy to people who need it
clutter (v): fill a place with too many things, so that it is untidy
stockpile (n): large supply of something that is kept to be used in the future if necessary

DISCUSSION

-How does Hasuda's staff find out who to contact if they receive a lost item?

-Do you think this idea would work in Bangkok?

-If you found something valuable, would you take it to a lost and found?

QUESTIONS

1. How many items come to the lost-and-found centre in Tokyo in a given day?

                a. 800,000 items

                b. 5,000 items

                c. 220,000 items

2. How did Tetsuro lose his mobile phone?

FUN WITH WORDS

Unscramble the following letters to make a word that fits the definition.

M-A-C-R-L-I-E

-get something back or to ask to have it back after it has been lost, taken away