8 ms·
Not a particularly good article so some things that y'all might find interesting: "Honor" and "a sense of responsibility" explains very little and good, widely
by patio11 5y ago
Not a particularly good article so some things that y'all might find interesting:
"Honor" and "a sense of responsibility" explains very little and good, widely distributed Schelling points (koban and, to a lesser extent, commercial/transit centers information/etc desks) that both do the right thing for lost/found items and are widely believed to do the right thing explains most of it.
You are legally entitled to a reward of up to 25% of the lost property's value in Japan. Almost everyone waives it; you'll be asked about it when filling out the paperwork. In my limited experience (five times?) they do try to avoid influencing you either way with the wording, and don't say "Everyone waives this." This does come up occasionally with regards to cash hordes.
Foreigners interacting with this system are, unfortunately, frequently seen as a burden by the cops ("Can't even fill out their own forms grumblegrumble") and brushed off unless someone in the koban decides either to be a go-getter or that this particular foreigner is likely socially established. In some cases the form of the brushoff takes the form of an impromptu Japanese test ("What do you want me to do with that?") where knowing that the magic words ("I would like to file a lost property report." / "紛失物届けを提出したいです”) is treated as being suddenly worthy of prompt service.
This can be heavily YMMV based on the individual cop, the station/koban, and (regrettably) "How likely people who look like you are to be a frequent source of aggravation for cops in this neighborhood?"
- twofornone 5y ago>Honor" and "a sense of responsibility" explains very little and good, widely distributed Schelling points (koban and, to a lesser extent, commercial/transit centers information/etc desks) I feel like you're bending over backwards to dismiss that this really does come down to culture. At the very least you need a sizable population willing to forgo the easy, untracable reward of free cash/property. Especially when you go on to state that in almost all cases the reward is waived, only further suggesting a culture where honor is more important than spending money. As someone who has lived in Asia, this different culture exists in some other countries (like korea, possibly to a lesser extent) but is rather absent from China, no doubt influenced by the psychological horrors of china's particularly brutal bout with full marxism.
- antifa 5y agoCan't be any worse than the boots of capitalism and white supremacy.
- blamazon 5y agoAs a cultural layperson but occasional items-losing tourist in this region I was confused reading this as my experience was quite the opposite. But on recollection every lost-items interaction I've had as a foreign tourist in Japan was facilitated by a railway or a hotel in a major city, and likely this skewed my experience.
- sho 5y ago> good, widely distributed Schelling points (koban and, to a lesser extent, commercial/transit centers information/etc desks) These aren't "schelling points". The nearest appropriate location of whatever kind (koban if it's outdoors or somewhere small, information desk in a mall or station) is likely obvious to both the loser and finder given the context and is no more a schelling point than, eg, the local hospital if someone got hit by a car. A real Schelling point is more like, eg, the statue of hachiko in Shibuya which is so famous a landmark and prominent in everyone's shared cultural understanding that if you told two strangers to meet in Shibuya with no other information it's actually pretty likely they'd both just go there by default. > both do the right thing for lost/found items and are widely believed to do the right thing explains most of it Yeah, but what you're missing is the expectation that the finder will do the right thing too - which is absolutely cultural.
- _cs2017_ 5y agoIn my experience, in major American cities, anything valuable left in plain view in a car is stolen within 30 minutes (and that requires breaking the car window or picking the lock). But you're saying that things dropped on the ground will not be stolen, and instead returned to the nearest police station if only there was one not too far? Could you provide any arguments or evidence to support your claim?
- ehnto 5y agoEven that's going to depend on the city you're in, and where you're at in the city.
- Aeolun 5y agoIt’s not really something you prove. The stats speak for themselves right? Anecdotaly, we’ve lost bags, bottles, wallets and phones, and everything has (so far) been returned. Even a missing hat that had travelled all the way down to the end of the train line. I also left our $200 Strider unattended in the park for several hours, you really don’t think about it too much.
- johnwalkr 5y agoSome friends and I went to a baseball game 2 hours early to get good unreserved seats in the fan club section. It was hot so we had worn only our jerseys and didn’t have jackets or anything to claim our seats. We left watches and smartphones on our seats, left the stadium for an hour to get food and beer. Our seats and stuff were still there when we returned.
- _cs2017_ 5y agoWas all of that in major US cities? Also when you refer to the stats, which particular statistics do you mean?
- niconii 5y agoI'm pretty sure they're talking about Japan, not the US.