Lost & Found

     All along the Upper East Side of Manhattan pennies, dimes and even quarters gleam along the curbs. No such twinkling on the streets of Tokyo: Coins are rarely underfoot perhaps due to how often the street is swept with brooms made of twigs. Even if the occasional Y 100 coin (about $1) slips out of a hole in a pocket, for example, it remains where it falls until the owner returns. Unless a good Samaritan takes the time to pick it up and deposit it at the local koban (police box) for the owner to identify at a later date. At least this was the consensus at the weekly English Conversation group gathering.

     As predicted at 11 AM on a Wednesday at the  Manor, four immaculate English speakers (this week favoring white and cream) mulled over the appropriate way to handle lost coins. (The fifth member aka Obaasan-- or grandmother-- was absent this week in order to help her daughter-in-law with the newly born third son.) Conversation opener this week: "See a penny, pick it up. All day long you'll have good luck."  What a strange Western belief: Who would pick up the flimsy aluminum Y 1 coin that has the feel of play money? No one at this table. All agreed that the smallest coin they would bend down to get would be Y 500 (about $5), a large copper. Whether they would bring it to the koban depended on how far they would have to walk. The act of touching a dirty item on the ground is the challenge in this germ-phobic nation.

     When I abandoned a textbook on a city bus, it was catalogued at the lost and found for the #96 bus. Upon retrieval, the book was handed over in a carrier bag with the time of loss noted.  A database tracks the thousands of found items on Tokyo transport, most often the kasa (umbrella); one wet day a conductor collected five per car, which explains how 3,500 pile up after each rainy day. Nowadays the keitai (cell phone) is vying for the number one slot for lost item. As a rule lost items are returned to their owners thanks to an honor code that dates back to 718 A.D. Provided that the finder reports the lost item to the authorities, a reward may be offered. One acquaintance who dropped her diamond bracelet at Starbucks got it back later that day. When our Vermont visitor left a parcel behind at a ferry station, we took the next ferry back to find the parcel undisturbed. Only Alice is still waiting to hear about an envelope of cash, payment for her lecture to the ladies social club, left behind in a taxi.