JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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Which do you think is best: iPhone or Android?
( 30 )
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Google versus Facebook for dominance of the web. Who has the upper hand?
( 19 )
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Should prefectures outside the Tohoku area accept tsunami rubble for incineration or disposal?
( 41 )
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Do you think Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) should be nationalized?
( 13 )
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Do you think credit ratings on countries from companies such as Standard & Poors, Moody’s and Fitch carry too much weight?
( 13 )
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- English Instructor (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe)
- Berlitz Japan, Inc. (ベルリッツ・ジャパン株式会社), Kansai
- Salary: ¥125,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month
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- FT English Teachers for Kids - Osaka
- Kohgakusha Co., Ltd. （株式会社興学社）, Osaka
- Salary: ¥255,000 ~ ¥275,000 / Month Travel Expenses, Encouragement of Japanese learning*
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- Translator
- ZAIHON, Inc. (日本財務翻訳株式会社), Tokyo
- Salary: ¥6.0M / Year Negotiable
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55 Comments
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timorborder
Still waiting for the other foot to drop on this story. I look forward to the person who dropped this money (whether it was for reasons of tax avoidance, whatever), coming forward and claiming that there was close to 10 million yen in the bag. This of course will be at odds with the police's claim of only finding 7.5 million yen.
Considering this, wouldn't it be possible to both skim a margin off the top and then hand it in? On the other hand, that might be playing with fire.
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cleo
I'd hand it in. It's not mine.
Do as you would be done by.
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T_rexmaxytime
The finder is entitled to 10% of the total sum even if they find the owner of the money. If for some reason they cannot find the owner, the entire money becomes yours after some time.
But if I were to find such a big sum of money I will not know what to do.
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pawatan
This. In the end, all you have is your integrity.
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Coolasapool
why is there a not help yourself to all button?
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Kwaabish
I've dropped/lost my wallet twice in Japan in my lifetime and both times, they were returned with the contents intact. The person who found it who was entitled to 10% of the value of the contents refused the thanks/reward... stated that taking the wallet to the police box was "Touzen no koto" (当然の事）
What comes around goes around... I even returned a wallet that I found in a cab in LA. The cabbie looked at me like I was crazy when I started calling the owner while I was still in the cab. No doubt the cabbie would have kept it...
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sf2k
i voted to hand it back in, it's not mine. I'm quite surprised that this is not the majority vote.
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DJJapan
If someones name for ID was inside it then I would hand it in. If there is nothing written then I guess I would get a cab home that day rather than a train.
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DXXJP
People loose their mind in a recession.
I will have to say thought I have lost my wallet in japan, and after backtracking I found it right where I lost it. I have also found a few and turned them in. But doing so was a chore I cant believe the jcops want so much personal info for doing the right thing.
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Coolasapool
because if the owner says "hey man , it aint all here" they know who to call! nice.
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aikisako
I'd hand it in. You don't know where it came from.
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nisegaijin
wallet=return sum of money lying on the street is a sign of stupidity. nobody in their right mind handles money like that.
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Kwaabish
Of course, it also could be a case of the North Koreans trying to dilute the yen with their fake currency...
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fairyprince
Found a platinum wedding band a year back and turned it in.
Four months later (I believe that is the time period), it became mine.
I would turn in the cash.
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Pukey2
If it's a case of large money being scattered everywhere, it's most likely that the owner doesn't want it, and wouldn't care less if somebody else grabbed it. And so, "Do as you would be done by", as stated by Cleo, means that you should take it. If it's a wallet or something else with ID, then by all means, turn it in.
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smithinjapan
If it were in one big package, like in a bag, I'd hand it in. In the long run it could very well come back to me anyway, and as said you get a kind of 'finder's fee' for turning it it. If it were blowing around in individual bills and what not, I'd probably have to start stuffing it somewhere to keep it from all blowing away, then I'd turn it in... with perhaps a couple bills getting stuck here or there that I missed at the station. Haha.
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Taka313
Cleo,
In the event something like this does ever happen to me, I hope I can remember those words.
In the end, I think the desire to be a good example to my children and a belief that God is also watching (Mrs. Taka reminds me of that often) would hopefully prompt me to do the right thing.
But...I think it's really hard for anyone to say until they are actually in that situation.
Taka
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cleo
Never mind God, Taka is watching you. And you can't hide from him. :-)
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888naff
"i voted to hand it back in, it's not mine. I'm quite surprised that this is not the majority vote."
lol ...gaijin thats why. this is poll for them!
Interesting in the news elsewhere around the globe a similar situation although complete local surprise at the honesty. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8039240.stm
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mareo2
If I found a lot of money, I call the police, is to risky to keep it. If I found a small amount of money, I give it to the closest autority, I am not so poor for going taking someone else money. I runned 50 meters with my luggage in a station for return the wallet to the owner that droop it on a Buss. I wish that more people think that to be honest is not being stupid.
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ca1ic0cat
If there was a way to ID the rightful owner then it would go back. But if you were talking a bunch of cash in a brown paper bag I would have to think about it - and make sure it wasn't counterfeit!
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beavis
No, all of it.
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imacat
I wouldn't hand it in but instead would selflessly use it to stimulate the local economy.
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sf2k
two experiences; one, I lost my wallet at a movie theatre. Never ask if they found it, just go back and look yourself. I didn't do that and always regretted it since it was such a pain replacing all my cards! Second, I had once found a wallet on the ground, the address was local and I retured it directly since it was on my way. The owner was surprised and I refused a reward. (I didn't care). A large sum of money though might have a reward for it, so that would be nice, but I don't think that answers why I'd do it.
These are just the minor chores of being a citizen, even if I'm not a citizen of Japan. An opportunity to make us feel right by our own hand. Being paid cheapens the act if from a person. From a company, a minor reward seems acceptable but also not mandatory. (if it was from a charity I'd refuse etc)
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jinjapan
quite surprising that so many people would keep something that isn't theirs. also, by japanese law, if no one claims it before 6 months it is returned to finder. so, you can always just return it & hope & pray :-)
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Altria
Not after I saw No Country for Old Men
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dennis0bauer
if i was unemployed living on the street, what would you think? It depends on the situation
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kiwiboy
Since coming to Japan i've lost my camera twice, and my wallet 4 times, EVERYTIME they have been handed in and i've got them back!! I know I should look after my stuff more! The last time i managed to get the address of the person that handed in my wallet and I sent them a box of chocolates, a soft toy Kiwi, and a letter to say thanks. If i found the money, i'd hand it in for sure! No idea what kind if trouble keeping it might get you into. Yakuza, police etc. Maybe it was hidden on purpose and is being watched by someone? You take it home and get followed! No thanks! I'd call the police, or hand it in straight away for sure!
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gogogo
Where is the keep it all option?
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helloklitty
I just mailed someone 2,000 yen for returning my 20,000 yen. I had dropped an envelope with the cash in it.
After seeing No Country I would search for any tracking device before escaping. I'm not interested in working another 20 years as a high school teacher.
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DailyBread
Having lived in Japan for more than 25 years I would keep the money if I picked it up. I would then decide by myself what to do with it. Over the years there has been numerous reports of people throwing Millions away in trash bags on the side of mountains, posting it into peoples mail boxes , dumping it into rivers . If a person picks the money up , hands the money into a police box, gets a receipt and it is not claimed then it goes back to the person. If a person finds the money then informs the police and they pick it up , Guess what ! It goes into the police coffers . Same with the trash collectors the prefecture gets to keep the money . Only on one occasion have i read a report that money picked up by municipal workers was it donated to an earthquake area.
Finding a wallet and returning it is one thing . Finding a sack of good money is going to be mine to keep .
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caribjustice
Pretty amazing all the contortions of logic to justify keeping something that doesn't belong to you. Everyone here has internet access so you are not living in a box on the street. Turn it in. It doesn't belong to you. Simple, plain and straightforward!
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caribjustice
My use of "you" is plural. Just aimed at the general.
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earthcreature
I would return 100% of the money! I may be poor as heck and some times I don't have a thing to eat... But I am an honest man and I would give it back.
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soothsayer
53% wouldn't hand it all in? Thank God you're the minority in this country. The honest displayed by the average citizen here here would disappear fast if you had you way.
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NYC_Samurai
soothsayer
is slightly more than the majority.
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NYC_Samurai
Correction; 53% is more than the minority.
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soothsayer
NYC Samurai,
Are you suggesting that every person in Japan took part in this poll? I'm suggesting that most the 53% are English speakers who probably live, or have lived in Japan.
Correction from my first post: Should read "honesty" not "honest". Time to ge a keyboard with a "y" key that functions freely!
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ANOTSUSAGAMI
There needs to be a clarification of the parameters in place in the question. the bills were scattered all over, with no bag. It wasn't in the form of some sort of identifiable source such as a credit card, or wallet with ID in it. I'm assuming that the people who would keep it are thinking of it as a pile of money on the street, NOT someone's wallet so those comments about lost wallets, cards and the like don't apply. How do you get that money back to it's owner? There's no name on it nor is it in something with a name on it. Come on people, stop the holier than thou stuff. None of you who are amazed at people keeping the money have ever picked up money off the street? Like you'd turn the 500 yen coin you found in. The way the question is phrased it's the same thing.
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Mark_McCracken
I found 20,000 yen on a train platform once. Took it to the police. Got it back 6 months later. Quick and easy process.
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Sarge
"Where is the keep it all option?"
Where is the spend it all option, heh heh
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grafton
I don’t have a deep & clever reason why, but I would hand it all in. It wouldn’t matter how it was found, brown bag, in a wallet, floating on the wind. And as for getting 10% or any of it back after 6 months, nice perhaps, but it has nothing to do with whatever would get me to hand it in. Very simply, it isn’t mine to do anything with. There’s no high moral value at work here, just what I believe is right.
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Sarge
Actually, I have to go with grafton on this one.
The key words are "large sum." It's one thing to pick up a 500 yen coin on the street and put it in your pocket, it's another to find 500,000 yen in an envelope and just spend it. The person who lost the 500,000 could be in a real pickle if they don't get it back.
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Tatsumaru
Cash is called cash for a reason. The possessor is not biased by the the possessed.
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Nessie
what carib and sarge said; although, in principle, carib has it more right -- it isn't yours; the sum and the person's need for the money shouldn't matter
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ANOTSUSAGAMI
Sarge- the money wasn't in an envelope so that kills your scenario. In an envelope even with no name or writing on it, there's hope of finding the owner and therefore right to turn it in. Forensic evidence, size, shape and color of the envelope, the amount in the envelope all point to ownership of the money and there is a possibility of someone properly identifying the envelope. In the absence of a container you have nothing. The money was scattered all around, who says they got all of it? With that in mind you don't even have an exact number to go by. How would it be even possible to claim such a loss to the police? "Uhm, it was on the ground and it looks like money"?
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Badge213
I'd turn it in. Never know if it's some dirty money, yakuza, or even somesort of sting.
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Sarge
Nessie: "it isn't yours; the sum and the person's need for the money shouldn't matter"
Nessie, are you actually saying if you found a 100 yen coin on the street that you would turn it in to the nearest koban?
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Himajin
I don't even pick up 500 yen, it isn't mine....
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Sarge
Hima - If you don't pick up the 500 yen, someone else will, and soon. There's no way the person who dropped it is ever going to get it back - if you feel it isn't yours, give it to charity, but don't leave it lying on the street.
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Sarge
I once found a junior high school girl's purse with 5000 yen in it on the bus. It also had her library card in it. I turned it in to the koban.
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HonestDictator
To be honest I'd only keep it if there is no identification or way of identifying the owner. If I found a bottle or plastic/paper bag with money wrapped in side, poor fellow who lost it probably won't be able to get it back and I'd see it as a godsend o' fortune. If it does have an identifiable mark like a purse, wallet, ID, credit cards, etc. I'd turn it in without touching it.
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cleo
If you take it to the koban, if there's no way of identifying the owner it will come back to you anyway, at which time it will be yours legitimately.
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grafton
Sarge at 07:58 PM JST - 16th May “I once found a junior high school girl's purse with 5000 yen in it on the bus. It also had her library card in it. I turned it in to the koban.”
Sarge, but that is because you are a gentleman of the old school, by the way, did you get a reward?
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