I lost my passport and small envelope wallet on a JR limited express train. I’ve called the JR lines and filed a police report, but the embassy isn’t open until Monday at 11:30, just hours before I’m scheduled to fly home. Have any of you had luck in finding lost items on JR limited express?? I remember exactly where it was left, but it’s been hours and they say they still don’t have any information on where it is. Should I be going anywhere or calling any other specific phone numbers?? I am very nervous and stressed that I will end up losing over a thousand dollars and a few days if I can’t find my passport/wallet in time.
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17 comments
[Here](https://www.jreast.co.jp/info/lost.html) is the JR East page for lost property. There are phone numbers for various major stations lost property departments (not for Kofu – but I guess it might end up on the other end?). Probably can’t count on any English being spoken though.
[Here’s](https://lost.jreast-chat.com/) a text chat interface for trying to find your stuff. Maybe you can machine translate your way through it.
Might be worth calling your airline and asking to change to a later flight?
Most embassies have an emergency phone number.
Try calling your airline and maybe try to organise a different flight?
A lot of lost items are handed in on JR trains. The person who finds it will hand it in on the station they exit from or to a conductor if there was one so you may need to wait until it works through the system. If you have lost it on a Friday after the embassy is closed that is not much time that has passed.
I honestly think you will get it back. Lost my phone several times on the train. Including my credit cards. Always got em back.
I didn’t call tho, I went straight to the lost and found at the station. Most likely (at least from experience) it will be at the end station of route.
Call or visit the local station where you lost it and the local police station
I have lost my wallet (Shizuoka) and passport (Nagoya) on two different trips to Japan. Never worried about it. Just went to the police station for my wallet, and the lost and found/customer service kiosk in the train station.
I’ve been more careful since, but the best place to lose anything while traveling is definitely Japan. 😅
If you dont find it by sunday evening call your airline to push your flight back a few hours. And be ready at the embassy well before they open. We walked past the french embassy an hour before they opened and there was already a line 10 people deep. Not sure what the other countries were looking like but im assuming it was similar.
I was walking along a river after a heavy night of drinking. My friend and I stopped at a bench for a break. We walk about a mile, I then realize I had no phone. I accidently forgot the Hotspot pouch which had my phone and passport inside. Luckily we walked back and it was still there.
It is more likely that you will get it back than you won’t, especially since it has identification and it is Japan. I lost my pouch with a few thousand yen on the train platform. No ID, just money. I got it back from the lost & found section after 36 hours.
Go speak to a person at the JR window at a station.
In the future, put your phone number and email on a sticky note in your passport so whoever finds it will have a very easy way to contact you.
If you lost it on a train, it’s very likely it will show up at the station’s lost and found eventually. Not sure if it will be in time before your flight though :/
Let me share my story. I left my carry on luggage at Kyoto station going to Tokyo on Shinkansen JR line. When I found out the missing bag in Tokyo I jumped back onto the train to go back to Kyoto. While in the train , I talked to a train officer who contacted Kyoto station. Still in the train just before I arrived in Kyoto the officer came back to me and said they found it and I had to get it from the lost and found office in the station. Hope they will find yours !
Don’t wait for your embassy to open, contact the passport office in your own country directly. Or, if timezones don’t work out, just call the embassy in a country that is in working hours.
All of these offices can issue your an emergency passport for travel
This won’t help OP’s current situation, but a suggestion for anyone who uses an iPhone. Get a passport wallet with an integrated AirTag holder. It has saved my butt for keys, wallet and passport wallet. Cheap insurance to find your passport if you lose it (of course assuming someone didn’t steal the passport and discard the wallet.) The one I have has a hidden airtag so it’s not as obvious that that’s what it is.
I lost my passport on a shinkansen. I realized it was missing when I was checking into my hotel ~1hr after leaving that station. My hotel concierge was able to call the station to ask if they found anything, and I also went to go file a police report. The next morning, I got all the way through the payment process at the US embassy to get an emergency passport, but one of the workers helping me decided to call the station(?) one more time, and they ended up having it. They said it was left in one of the seats of the train.
I think it’s best to continue to call and ask if they’ve found anything, since no one reached out to me first despite filing a police report and leaving my (and my hotel’s) contact info with the station’s lost and found. I still haven’t forgotten how stressful and scary the whole situation felt, and I really sympathize with you!!!! 🙁