Lost & Sold: Items lost on JR trains go on sale for bargain prices

On August 25th, Japan Railways held a special sale in Osaka:

Everything being sold had originally been found left inside train cars. If somebody doesn’t file a lost item claim within a designated period of time, JR and other private railways are allowed to dispose of such items. In the video clip, we can see ipod nanos being sold for as little as 840 yen ($9)! Hand-held video game systems were also being sold for considerable markdowns. People were also buying lots of ultra cheap umbrellas (the most commonly lost item).

Any electronic device that may contain personal information is taken to a special facility and wiped clean. The reporter visits the company that processes the lost items and discovers all kinds of interesting stuff, including brand new appliances in their original boxes!

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http://Koiyukisbraindroppings.blogspot.com Koiyuki

If I ever get to visit the place, I would hope to find a PS3 for cheap. Although someone would have to lack a lot of sense to lose a PS3 in the train
Nicklas W bjurman

Meh, umbrellas are part of the commons in Japan. You place one in the stand where you enter a location and take one from the stand when you leave or if it is not raining anymore you leave it…

helical

Waaait, are you the jerk that took my umbrella from one of the stands the other day?

gilgamesh

So that’s where my CD player and headphones went!
radical pikachu

It seems that people forgot or leave items they don’t need. They can come and be reunited their item at JR lost’n'found counter right ?

I did not see any good thing there. Who wants those ipods and psps ?
Crash

Wow, where is this place and how often do they sell the properties. Definately want to check that out since I am in Japan anyways.
David

“If somebody doesn’t file a lost item claim within a designated period of time, JR and other private railways are allowed to dispose of such items.”

This line made me laugh. i imagine with the shear volumes that many of the items do have claims made but the item is not matched with the claims. My experience in the 1 time I left something on the train was that I gave them information on which train and carriage my bag was on but no reply even after chasing it up. Every item in the bag had my name and address on it and it still did not get returned (My friend had collected my mail for a month while I was away and so I had about 40 unopened letters in the bag).

pixel_bomber

Probably got picked up by some gaijin. Any Japanese would have turned it in.

ponta

You hold an interesting belief about gaijin and nihonjin.
(By the way is it okay to say “gaijin”?)

Garamon

The G-word? I think that might be racist.

Deepspacebeans

I used to go when they were selling the unclaimed items in Nagoya. You wouldn’t believe the number of musical instruments people leave around

http://www.zdwonline.de Haf

Any chance you can grab a violine for me next time you go there?

Lost & Sold: Items lost on JR trains go on sale for bargain prices

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