When we were in Europe on a spring Viking tour last year, we were one of the last ones to get off the tour bus and I found a rolled up wad of Euros worth about $50. I gave it to our tour director who forgot to mention it to the tour group like he promised and put it in the tip jar for the Viking staff.
In the fall, we were on another tour in Japan when I found 11,000 yen which is about $100. Our tour guide immediately raced back to where I found it and called the police.
I wondered if anybody would claim it since there was no identification, but in Japan you just don't know. People just expect honesty and someone might very well come and report it.
When we were returning to Hawaii in April of this year, we had to spend several hours at Narita Airport waiting for our flight.
When Art decided to pay for our sushi lunch with his remaining yens, he discovered that his coin purse was missing.
He realized that he must have left it at the airport post office when he went to buy stamps for a couple of postcards he wanted to send the grandkids.
He explained to mom what he wanted her to ask the postal workers.
They, in turn pointed us to the Information counter.
The service people at the counter asked for a description of the missing coin purse.
Mom told them it was a small, blue, plastic coin container.
I think my eyebrows went up when they asked if he knew how much was in the coin purse. I mean, really, wasn't that description enough?
I think there was an equivalent of about $3.
Whatever the case, they had it!
Art had to fill out a bunch of paperwork to get it back.
It blew my mind that someone had turned it in.
I'm happy to say the grandkids got their postcards over a week after we returned.
I just remembered something that happened on the same trip. When we were boarding the train to go to Sendai with a case of Hawaiian Kona coffee for the relatives, Art discovered that he'd left the case on a counter when he was purchasing the train tickets.
We hurriedly got off the train and went to the Information center. Yup. Someone had turned it in.
I guess this is why so many islanders love going to Japan.
In the fall, we were on another tour in Japan when I found 11,000 yen which is about $100. Our tour guide immediately raced back to where I found it and called the police.
I wondered if anybody would claim it since there was no identification, but in Japan you just don't know. People just expect honesty and someone might very well come and report it.
When we were returning to Hawaii in April of this year, we had to spend several hours at Narita Airport waiting for our flight.
When Art decided to pay for our sushi lunch with his remaining yens, he discovered that his coin purse was missing.
He realized that he must have left it at the airport post office when he went to buy stamps for a couple of postcards he wanted to send the grandkids.
He explained to mom what he wanted her to ask the postal workers.
They, in turn pointed us to the Information counter.
The service people at the counter asked for a description of the missing coin purse.
Mom told them it was a small, blue, plastic coin container.
I think my eyebrows went up when they asked if he knew how much was in the coin purse. I mean, really, wasn't that description enough?
I think there was an equivalent of about $3.
Whatever the case, they had it!
Art had to fill out a bunch of paperwork to get it back.
It blew my mind that someone had turned it in.
I'm happy to say the grandkids got their postcards over a week after we returned.
I just remembered something that happened on the same trip. When we were boarding the train to go to Sendai with a case of Hawaiian Kona coffee for the relatives, Art discovered that he'd left the case on a counter when he was purchasing the train tickets.
We hurriedly got off the train and went to the Information center. Yup. Someone had turned it in.
I guess this is why so many islanders love going to Japan.
This doesn’t surprise me at all! Honesty is always the best policy!
ReplyDeleteGood news ... people are more honest than we sometimes give them credit for. Last month B left her purse behind on a bench at Bryce Canyon, Utah, as we went off for a bus tour. Everything was in it -- cash, credit cards, license, phone. When we got back, about an hour later, the purse was at the information booth. It had been turned in. She got it back with everything still there, even the cash.
ReplyDeleteI once left a purse in a fast food restaurant near Boston. I realized it quite quickly but when I returned the clerk just rolled his eyes at the notion that someone might have turned it in. I cancelled my credit card immediately. A man did call me when I got home -- he had found my purse in the parking lot and said he would mail it back to me. I had all my cash in my pocket and that must have been a disappointment to someone. It was nice to know there was an honest person to counter the would be thief. I appreciated getting the purse back.
ReplyDeleteArt has to be careful leaving things behind, luckily he was in Japan!
ReplyDeletethat warms your heart and it does happen sometimes in usa!
ReplyDeleteOur kids really enjoyed Japan last year! The postcards, however, took months to get to us!
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of people are honest with money. I guess there is no data on that!
So, Art needs one of those biker/trucker big leather wallets with the heavy chain on it. And maybe a bigger backpack for the items he's hand-carrying that he leaves on the counter. Interesting to note that he's human like the rest of us, considering all the other wonderful, perfect things he does! Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you posted this now. I saw an article recently about a study of honesty. Wallets were left with funds in them and tracked to see if they were turned in when found. The more money in the wallet the more likely it was turned in.
ReplyDeleteHere's the article in The Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/lost-wallet-more-cash-means-youre-likelier-to-get-it-back/2019/06/20/eaaa12c4-93a1-11e9-956a-88c291ab5c38_story.html?utm_term=.c02d2f41a35e
Or maybe just google lost wallet study.
I remember seeing that article. Isn't it awfully nice to know that the majority of people are kind and honest around the world?
DeleteIt is always heartwarming to know lost items have been returned. I had two such experiences, this year and last. Once I left my purse behind and another time it was my cell phone. I went back and both had been turned in.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen one of those coin thingys for ages!
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of when Dennis and I went to Ireland. We bought a brand new camera for the trip. After getting to the hotel and unpacking. About 30 minutes later I realized that we didn't have the camera. I called the front desk to see if I left it there when checking in and she told me that the driver of our taxi found it in the back seat and drove back to return it! We were so relieved that we could now take pictures of our wonderful trip! There's honest people all over the world.
ReplyDeleteAh yes! That's right! I remember that. You guys were really lucky. We still need to get ourselves to the Emerald Isle. What a wonderful taxi driver he was.
DeleteThat coin purse made me laugh!!! I haven’t seen one like it in decades and didn’t know that they’re still around. Haha!!
ReplyDeleteHe happens to really like that little coin purse. I hope it never breaks.
DeleteI just looked online:
Deletehttps://www.amazon.com/Rubber-Purse-Change-Holder-Nabob/dp/B0774GCLS1/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInqK9rMaD4wIVEbvsCh1XGw8tEAAYASAAEgJTLvD_BwE&hvadid=232541838209&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9032796&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=16257356234772536050&hvtargid=kwd-344755199259&hydadcr=4053_9615791&keywords=small+plastic+coin+purse&qid=1561428530&s=gateway&sr=8-1
You can get three of them for $7.99 on Amazon.
Doesn't that just make your day? I am painfully honest yet am oddly surprised when others are.
ReplyDeleteHave always loved Nihon people and culture! An important part of what's great about Hawaii too. Shinto blessings and bon dances, butter mochi and Zippy's! I really missed the Japanese tourist being all around me too. The mainland was to monochromatic, but I'll leave it at that... great to be home in the islands. As I'm unfitted to live anywhere else at this point
ReplyDeleteI believe Nihonjin are still honest
ReplyDeleteI hae also heard that they still respect their elders.
ReplyDeleteGosh, maybe some day I can go too.
ReplyDeleteNow I had an exact same change purse at one time. I hated it. but great for people turning in lost articles.
ReplyDeleteMy son has just been stationed in Okinawa, Japan. He's been there for a couple of weeks so far. He has texted our daughter (my husband and I don't have a phone that texts very easily) that he really likes it there. I've seen photographs and it looks beautiful there. My son plans on visiting many other parts of Japan, so it sounds like he will really like travelling there where people are so honest and nice.
ReplyDeleteHe has told me that while he is there, after he gets settled in, he wants to visit Tokyo, and some many other parts of Japan, and then he wants to travel to Seoul, South Korea and visit the adoption agency that he was adopted through. He has a friend who is fluent in Korean who will go with him and translate for him.
Our son has been all over the world. Almost all of the countries in Europe. He's also been to Africa, Afghanistan (not under pleasant circumstances), and Quatar. He's been in the military for 15 years now. He really enjoys travel and has met so many nice people. When he visited Ireland, he went to an Irish pub with some friends. He met some other people his age there, and when they were all introducing themselves, our son told them his last name, which is an Irish name that you see all over Ireland. The young Irishman, looked at our son's very Korean face, and asked our son, not in a mean or rude way, "Well, how do "you" spell ***** (our family's last name)." My son spelled it for him. The young Irishman still looked puzzled, and then our son laughed and said "I'm adopted". They had a laugh about it and the young Irishman bought our son a Guinness.
This is such a sweet story. I'm so glad he's enjoying his time in Japan. It's so much easier to travel in Japan with the amazing rail system.
DeleteWhen I was reading your description of Art's coin purse, that's what I pictured, but still I was surprised to see it. I didn't know those were still around.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that honesty is a cultural thing. Aound here it's often "finders, keepers".
Years ago my sister was foreman at a little plastics factory that made those little coin purses. Small world.
ReplyDeleteYup! It's still made in the USA and selling on Amazon 3 for $7.99.
DeleteIt interesting to learn about different customs. In Japan they are honest, and in America, it seems to be just the opposite. It's a heartwarming post, Kay. Thank you for sharing the stories and I enjoyed your commenters' stories, too. :-)
ReplyDeleteHonesty is so important in keeping the wheels of society moving smoothly. I once found around two hundred dollars in cash in a grocery isle. I put it in my coat pocket and hurried to the next aisle where I saw and elderly lady looking frantically through her pockets and purse. I asked if she had lost something and she said money. I knew she was not lying and handed her what I had found. I somehow know there would be someone just ahead of me that was the owner. I also found about 40$ blowing across a mall parking lot and no one was parked nearby. I did keep the money.
ReplyDeleteI once found a purse with 5000 in it. Didn't know that at the time, but still, that's a lot of money. I can't believe they were that careless.
ReplyDelete