KYOTO – Kyoto Prefectural Police have too many lost things. In 2025, they had about 630,000 found-item cases. This was the second highest number since records started in 1971. The highest number was in 2024.
Read the original Japanese article
This spring, the prefectural police headquarters sent more workers to help police stations with lost things. The number went from four to five. But the work is still hard.
Nakagyo Police Station keeps many items in a storage room. The items include smartphones and wallets. Each item has a tag. The tag has the date the item was found and other information. One strange item was a mannequin.
Nakagyo Police Station received about 64,000 lost items in 2025. This was the second highest number in Kyoto Prefecture after Shimogyo Police Station. The room has no air conditioner. It is hot and humid in summer. Because of this, it is not easy for staff to sort items.
Five workers in the accounting division handle lost property there. Sometimes, more workers come from the prefectural police headquarters.
“Because of the many items we get, the challenge is returning them to their owners as quickly and accurately as possible. Managing the process is no easy task,” said Natsumi Higashi, 37, of Nakagyo Police Station’s accounting division.
The most common lost things are ID papers and cards. They include driver’s licenses and credit cards. They are 48% of all cases. Wallets are 10%. IC cards and other cards with money value are 8%. Mobile phones are 7%.
More wireless earbuds are now brought to police. Higashi said, “Sometimes only one earbud is turned in, or we get an empty case. Among electronic devices, wireless earbuds are by far the most commonly lost items.”
Earbuds are small. Police must keep them carefully. Power banks also need care. They can start a fire.
For smartphones, police workers may use SIM card information. They may call the mobile phone company. For driver’s licenses, they may send a letter to the address on the license. Staff also help people at service counters and take care of stored items.
(Japanese original by Yuki Ohigashi and Ryota Sukeno, Kyoto Bureau)
Vocabulary
headquarters: the main office
items: things
storage room: a room to keep things
mannequin: a body model for clothes
humid: a lot of water in the air
accounting division: a police office group for money and lost things
no easy task: not easy, hard
wireless earbuds: small earphones with no wire
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