Bob puts Japanese good-will to the test.
What a bright and gorgeous morning to be alive in Nagoya! It was their first full day in Japan and Bob had the entire day to himself. He had plans to get lost in the city. He’d find a museum, a park, or better yet, he’d find an onsen and enjoy a cool bath later in the day. It was July in Japan after all. The heat and humidity would be intense as the day progressed.
Their hotel was well positioned, near the city center. Jen had two full days of meetings on the northern end of the city. After a traditional Japanese breakfast at the hotel their first morning, he walked Jen and her colleagues to the train station. From there, he set off exploring. The area surrounding the train station was cosmopolitan, with stylish department stores lining the streets. There were large modern statues of females in short dresses along the wide sidewalk outside the shops. Bob stopped to laugh at a few children that were posing below the statue, pretending to look up her skirt. He pulled out his phone and captured the scene.
He continued on his self guided tour of the city, roaming the busy streets and simply enjoying the freedom of moving at his own pace. After several days on the move, he was happy to move leisurely. They’d left Iceland just a couple of days earlier, had flown back to the States for a quick night in New York to swap out their cool weather hiking gear for Japanese summer clothes, and then caught a plane to Japan for Jen’s meetings. It had been a few days of whirlwind of travel, but after an extremely enjoyable bullet train ride from Tokyo to Nagoya, they were going to stay in the same place for a few days.
Bob would occasionally stop in a shop to explore as he continued to walk Nagoya. He felt great. They’d covered a lot of ground in Iceland and he was happy to be out of hiking boots and into his low profile walking shoes. The walking shoes weren’t as broken in as he would have liked, but he loved how packable and light-weight they were.
He’d covered quite a bit of distance when he reached down to grab his phone for a quick check on the time, but here was no phone in his pocket. A jolt ran through his body…. Where on earth could it be? He mentally retraced his steps, trying to recall the last time he used his phone. Could it have been when he took the photos of the kids below the statue? That was so long ago, so many steps back. Surely he’d had it since then.
He had no choice but to begin the long process of retracing his steps, going into shops, following his path back to the train station. His now-missing treasure was a new iPhone, the latest and greatest. He knew he had to move quickly if there was any hope of finding it. He moved rapidly back through the city, briefly stopping in the convenience store where he got cash, the other assorted shops that he’d perused, and finally back to the train station. No phone.
He was feeling anxious. How was the loss of this device going to affect the next few days in Nagoya or the remainder of the trip after that? How would he get around town without Google Maps at his fingertips? How could he find that bath house he’d been dreaming of? He tried to remember what it was like to be a tourist before the age of smart devices.
He decided to stop, sit and think. He recalled a small police station near the train station and decided to see what they would recommend. The language barrier was a complication, but gestures and the word iPhone seemed to get the point across and he was able to file a police report. With this step taken care of, he was beginning to feel a little more in-charge of the situation. However, after slowing down his hurried pace, he was now detecting a burning sensation on the balls of his feet. Had his frenzied pace caused him to rub blisters on his soles? Darn those fancy light-weight shoes!
Bob pressed on, thinking on what he’d do next. Anything to take focus off of his throbbing feet. All iPhones have a fancy Find My iPhone app, but that would only work if Jen was here with her phone. But wait…. He’d seen an Apple Store during his earlier exploring. They might be able to track down his phone using the app. Yes! But no. As helpful as the Apple employees were, his phone appeared to be off-line (he had shut off cell service to prevent roaming charges), so it couldn’t be tracked. They were able to log the phone as lost, which meant that as soon as another phone in his family was in close proximity to his lost phone, it would start sounding an audible alarm. The Apple Store was also able to let Bob log on to his iCloud account and get a message to Jen’s phone: “Phone lost. Meet at hotel.” This was an important text, he was supposed to meet Jen and her work colleagues for dinner tonight - their Japanese counterparts had a special dinner planned downtown. They hadn’t really planned out their meeting location that morning, because they intended to communicate over phone when Jen’s meetings ended.
Now that Jen had the message, or would as soon as she looked at her phone after work, he could focus on retracing his steps once again, making his way back to the hotel, where he could inspect his aching feet.
Just as he suspected, blisters. Bad ones. Silver-dollar sized, on each foot. He dressed his wounds and waited for Jen.
Jen got the message and made her way back to the hotel. With an hour train ride, she had time to research how to track down lost items in Japan. It turns out that most items of value that are lost are usually turned in. The internet had countless accounts of people reporting to a local “Police Box” near the location where they last saw the item and eventually, their item was returned. Japanese are taught at a young age that if they find something that isn’t theirs, they shouldn’t keep it. If a child finds something small, regardless of its value, it’s a common practice for their parents to take them to a police station, where the child is rewarded with a piece of candy for returning the item.
Based on what Jen read, Bob had done everything right. He filed a police report in the vicinity of his lost phone. He registered his phone as lost with Find My iPhone. Now they just had to wait for the honest Japanese culture to do what the internet promised they’d do…. Turn in the phone.
They headed out to enjoy dinner near the place where it all began - the train station. When they were within a short distance of the train station, Jen received a message: “Bob’s iPhone has been located” and included a map. The phone was close - within a block! The GPS signal was a little weak, so they wandered around a bit and eventually ended up back in the police station where Bob had filed the report. As soon as they walked in the door, a padded yellow envelope on a policeman’s desk began making a high pitched squawking noise. Jen’s phone did the same thing. It was clear that Bob’s phone was in the envelope. After some gesturing to the the police (who were surprised to hear the envelope squawking too) Bob was reunited with his phone. It was impossible to figure out where he’d left it and who deserved a thank you for turning it in, but he was grateful for the good will of the Japanese people. Now time to tend to those blisters….
