people of tokyocorresponds to the national characteristic of honesty, found and delivered at all 3.99 billion yen (about 28 million euros) lost money to the police in 2022, an average of more than 76,000 euros per day.

According to the national police, this amount exceeded the absolute record of 2019 (when the amount of lost cash handed over by the police departments of the Japanese capital reached 3.84 billion yen).

The relevant police department returned about 3 billion yen to the people who lost them, and a total of 480 million yen was issued as a reward to those who found them, which were not claimed and whose rightful owner was not found.

In 2022, 3.43 million items were also handed over to the police, of which

• 730,000 driver’s licenses, identity cards and other similar documents
• 390,000 passenger cards and rechargeable public transport cards
• 300,000 gloves and garments and
• 300,000 wallets

According to the relevant law, anyone who finds someone else’s money must hand it over to the police, although they are entitled to demand a cash reward of 5 to 20% if it is returned to the rightful owner.

If the money remains unclaimed after three months, the full amount is attributed to the person who found it and delivered it. If the person who delivered it does not claim it even after an additional two months (five in total), then it becomes the property of the local government.

Police believe the rise in missing money is evidence that the coronavirus pandemic is coming to an end.

“This may be the result of an increase in the number of people moving after the sharp relaxation of border controls and the resumption of socio-economic activity,” the official told the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.

Source: Guardian