Tokyo Confidential
A weekly look at the lesser-seen side of the trains, history and culture of the world's most interesting city
Tokyo Confidential
Lost and Found and Returned
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Allan
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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Phones left in taxis. Briefcases forgotten under train seats. Dropped wallets, abandoned umbrellas, misplaced purses. Japan’s 126 million residents lose a vast number of personal items every year. But a remarkably high percentage of them are returned to their rightful owners.
This week we explore the factors driving Japan’s efficient lost-and-found system, and its uncanny ability to reunite owners with lost property.
Special thanks to CityLab, who originally published an article on which this episode is based; and to the anonymous person in Takasaki, Japan who once turned in my wallet to the police