I left my mobile phone and woolly hat on a train on my way to work on Saturday. As I tend to do once or twice a year, I put them both next to me on the seat rather than in my pocket - I started reading something, saw my stop, got out, put my hand in my pocket and turned around to see them both pull away in the train…

Not the nicest feeling especially considering the phone is lent to me by my company until I get my gaijin card and can buy my own. In addition it’s kind of a life line as I’ve no other way to be contacted if I’m late for work or have any other issues…

A freak out later I get in to work and Miki, the receptionist at the school, kindly offers to try and call the number and try to locate the phone. I then remember that this is Japan and, as I’d read and been told, it’s very rare for things to be stolen in those cases. They’re generally handed into lost and found offices at the stations. Still after 5 or so hours I started to despair, and then thankfully I was told that they’d been handed in at Hoya station - two stops from where I’d got off.

There’s a lot to be said for Japanese society - both good and bad, but in that case I was pretty thankful for the general Japanese honesty. I can’t imagine leaving a brand new phone on a train in London and getting it back (and I found two on London trains and gave them back much to the surprise of their owners). Another nice touch was that you get the train journey from the stop you got off to where the goods are for free.

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written by Laurent