If it can be lost on the teeming streets of Tokyo, it can be found in the city's cavernous lost-and-found center, where everything from diamond rings to dentures and billions of yen in stray cash await their rightful, if forgetful, owners.
On any given day, about 800,000 items pack the four-story warehouse, with 5,000 new ones trucked in every morning for an annual haul of 220,000 articles of clothing, 30,000 mobile phones, 18,000 eyeglasses and 17,000 wallets.
"I'm not surprised anymore by what people lose," said the custodian, veteran police officer Nobuo Hasuda, as he pads along the cramped paths between caches of wheelchairs, snow shoes, motorcycle helmets, trumpets, pornographic videos. There are banks of file cabinets labeled "Mobile Phones: April," "Wallets: March," and "Eyeglasses: February."
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.