A friend took the last train last night, woke up and got off the train and realizes he’s not carrying his bag. This morning, we called the last station he got off and they said nothing was reported or was brought to them.
Would it eventually show up in a random station or is it possible that it got stolen?
Contains laptop, phone, and other personal belongings.
What can we do aside from reporting it to the police?
24 comments
Did you file an official report at the station lost property office? They’ll contact you if it shows up. Also report it to the police.
While you’re not guaranteed to get it back, it might be likely. Go to your nearest Koban and report it with an accurate account of its contents. If it turn up after being turned in, you’ll get a call to pick it up. I left my wallet at a Lawson with like a grand US in it and I got a call a week later with nothing missing. I guess it all depends on who turns it in. It might be a good person that finds it, it might be some furio jackwagon.
Talk to the train station and the police.
Go to the train station and ask. I lost my work phone in the Hokuriku Shinkansen when I arrived in Tokyo 2 days ago and by the time I realized it was lost, I was already at Kawasaki. Went back to the station, they gave me some orange pass to go find the phone.
I went to the station office at one of the Shinkansen platform, and they made some call around, and my phone was in the adjacent track station office.
Can you track it?
The answer to would it show up or did it get stolen is currently either is equally possible. Report it, and keep checking with lost and found.
When I left my backpack on the train, they turned it in at the last stop. I called and sure it was enough it was in the lost and found office at the last station of that line.
I then went and they asked for a description of the bag and the contents inside. Along with the time, day, and train line it was in.
Was this directly from work-> train-> home? If not make sure you contact any in between points, like any drinking establishments/restaurants as well as the train station they got on at.
Lost and found can be delivered to the station or police so both are worth checking
Sounds like he was wasted and might have left it in one of the places he went drinking? The classic losing the work laptop situation.
https://www.tokyometro.jp/support/lost/index.html
this is the Tokyo Metro lost-and-found center.
If they connect to another line directly, we need to ask for the line.
I hope you find your bag!
[https://www.jreast.co.jp/info/lost.html](https://www.jreast.co.jp/info/lost.html)
Any IDs inside? If it eventually ends up with the police, they’ll find your address and send you a postcard. It can take some time, though (like months). I’ve lost wallets, cash cards and even my residence card and they all turned up in other prefectures, but I got those postcards. I only filed a police report for the wallet, too. I also left my backpack on a train, but I knew immediately and even knew which car, so they could grab it for me quickly.
Definitely file a report regardless.
> This morning, we called the last station he got off and they said nothing was reported or was brought to them.
Don’t call the station he got off at – call the terminal station of the train he was on, they have staff sweep the trains before they go back out or shut down for the night. If it was, for example, the Marunouchi line, you would call Ogikubo or Ikebukuro.
“is it possible it got stolen” – yes
Does he remember what the last stop of that train was? I accidentally left my backpack on the train once. I realized as soon as I got off but it was too late. The train staff told me it would be at the lost and found at the last station. They confirmed it and I went to get it; had to fill out a form.
They generally clear the trains at terminals, so it wouldn’t be the station he got off at you’d need to talk to. File a report with the train servicer (ie JR) and have them look at their lost and found.
Happened to me when I left my work bag on the train. If you’re fast enough, they tell you when the train you were on is coming back and you can intercept your item (which is what I did once JR said Tokyo had nothing in lost and found).
You file a lost item report with the train company – if they find it, they’ll let you know. If items are unreported after a set period (couple of days, a week?) they hand it to police. Police will then hold it for something like 6-12 months.
You can look online to search as well for both the train company and for the police, but you are better off giving reports so they contact you.
The train left (with his bag) when he left it. Why would anyone bring it back to that station?
Try asking at the last stop station for that line maybe
I lost my icoca card today at Shinagawa in Tokyo. I guess icoca is more rare in Tokyo. I went to the info desk to tell them, and they had it already
I forgot a bag with new shoes on the train during golden week season. As soon as I noticed, I went to report it. The desk of lost Items made some calls and told me they will call me, or I could swing by in two days. Bye-bye, new shoes. Never saw them again.
Which was weird because on another line I forgot a scarf and I got it back the same day. But it wasn’t new.
Since there is a laptop and phone you can go to your closest Koban and also try to locate them.
Hope you find them!
Don’t give up. In my experience it shows up eventually (they just need a few days to process it, or it may have been taken to even far away if the person who found it decided to drop it off at their home station).
Okay… the first place to report it to is not the police in this case, but the metro.
I lost a set of Sony earbuds on the Metro once and I realized it within 30 minutes and called them. They had found over 800 pairs of the same model! But they had all been moved to Tokyo station. I went to the Tokyo Metro Tokyo station lost and found, and identified the pair that were mine. (because they were paired to my phone).
The station you called may not have been the station it was found at (in fact probably not), but to the point it may not have been found/reported/cataloged yet.
Either way, 95% chance it will make it to the Subway staff or police. If you don’t call in a few days, they will catalog it, find the address if there is an ID, and send you a post card.
I have accidentally dropped already paid phone bills, and had the police send me a post card about it. As long as it has something with his address on it, he will get a post card.
If it has nothing with his address, the police will eventually call the phone companies and find out who’s stuff it is from the SIM card in the phone, but that takes a bit longer.
There are of course creeps who steal bags I’m sure, so there is some chance you will never see it again.
I would call Tokyo Metro again, and then file a report with the police at the nearest Koban.
I always read and hear from people how they lost items on the train or elsewhere here in Japan and were able to recover them fully intact. Unfortunately I am one of the unlucky ones that has never been able recover anything like lost phones, wallet, bag and cameras. JR or the police couldn’t help me out in each case. Anyways keep us updated if your friend finds. I will go cry myself to sleep.