Lost & Found Redux

Lately, Chad and I seem determined to scatter our valuables willy-nilly all over Japan.  And the Japanese people, bless them, are just as determined to find our stuff and keep it safe until we come looking for it.

This time, I dropped my small coin purse somewhere in the mall.  This tiny bag had almost the equivalent of $150 in it (cash is king here, and I carry much more than I ever did in the US).  Once I realized I'd lost it, I thanked heaven that it wasn't my actual wallet with my licenses and credit cards and proceeded to pay for my groceries via AMEX and go home.  I did do a quick floor check and I asked the clerk at the imported food store (where I last had the bag) if she had it.  She did not.  I gave it up for lost.

So I get home and tell Chad and he convinces me that I have to go back and find the mall's lost and found office because he is convinced that some honest Japanese soul immediately picked it up and turned it in.  (He also wanted his lunch, which I did not get while I was there because that would've required cash.)

So I schlep back to the mall and go to the information counter nearest to where I lost the bag.   I had to look up the Japanese for "lost and found office" and then show it to the clerk on my phone because it reads as "ishitsubutsutoriatsukaijo" and that is more Japanese than I can handle on the spur of the moment.  She informed me that she was the lost and found office and proceeded to ask me to describe the bag and it's contents.  In retrospect, this was excellent real-world Japanese practice as we talked size and colors and patterns and monetary amounts (and I only had to look up the word for "tan", yay me!).  She even drew a little picture as I talked so we could make sure she understood me.

Anyway, she didn't have it there, but she asked me to wait and got on the phone.  Lo and behold, she immediately announced that the information desk on the second floor had it!  And every last yen in it.  They did not ask me to review the contents or sign anything though, just gave it to me and let me go on my way.

I'd like to say we won't test out the honesty and efficiency of the Japanese culture any more after this, but that's probably not the case.  I just hope that next time it won't be our poor kid propped up behind the ishitsubutsutoriatsukaijo. ;)

Update: Since I posted this I have told the story to a couple of Japanese people.  According to them "ishitsubutsutoriatsukaijo" is perfectly understandable, but not the natural way to refer to a lost and found office.  The common word is "otoshimono" which comes from the verb for "to drop" which is"otoshimasu".  So basically you ask for the "dropped things place".  This sort of discrepancy happens a lot when we have to use the Japanese translation apps. on our phones.