lifestyle

Losing your wallet in Japan: What to do and where to go

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By Liam Carrigan

One of the things I love about living in Japan is the feeling of safety that comes from its very low crime rate. However, even a safe haven like Japan can still have its own moments of chaos, as I learned this week.

On Saturday morning, I discovered my wallet was missing, and in all likelihood stolen, while I was out on Friday night. Now, losing the ¥10,000 or so that was in the wallet is a pain, but it was nothing compared to losing my ATM, Visa debit and residence card, and perhaps most harrowingly — my points card for my favorite foreigner-friendly bar, Hub. (I was only a couple of hundred points short of some free drinks!)

Joking aside, getting out of this predicament required a huge effort and several pieces had to fall into place. It didn’t exactly go according to plan, but with an extreme amount of patience and knowing when to say, “Enough is enough!” to Japan’s endless red tape, it was more or less a happy ending. I figure that my suffering could at least serve some good to others finding themselves in the same dreary predicament.

Quick tips to remember:

You’ll likely need at least a day to go and get it straightened out; a majority of it you cannot do over the phone.

Report it to the police and obtain the correct documents to proceed to the rest.

You need more than an incident number from the police. Request a certificate to present to immigration.

You’ll likely have to dish out some additional cash to replace some of your cards.

So, here’s an account of what I did — and what you can learn from my mistakes — if you find yourself having lost your wallet and important cards in Japan.

Click here to read more.

© GaijinPot

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I once left my LV wallet and my cell phone at the sink in a public restroom at the beach near Kamakura. When I realized a half hour later, they were still there. Having said that, I have turned in a few wallets over the years that had obviously been cleaned of their important contents.

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