Japan’s Lost-and-Found System Is Insanely Good

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. As a recent BBC story reported, 83 percent of cellphones lost in Tokyo, for example, are eventually retrieved. The scheme for reuniting unlucky people with their wayward valuables relies on a complex mix of infrastructure, carrot-and-stick legal encouragement, and cultural norms. Taken together, they form a shockingly efficient system that has long been a source of wonder for Western observers.

The process usually begins at the local koban “police boxes” that form the basis of Japan’s community-based approach to law enforcement. Koban—some 6,300 spread across the country—are small, strategically located police stations that serve as most residents’ primary point of contact with the police.