Hand It In Within 7 Days, or 24 Hours at a Shop or Station: Japan’s Rules for Lost and Found Property

In Japan, it’s not unusual for a lost wallet or smartphone to turn up at a police box or station counter. That’s because when someone finds an item, the steps for reporting it and having the police or a facility search for the owner are set out in a law called the Lost Property Act. The Act even spells out that the finder can receive a reward, and that the item can become the finder’s own property if no owner is found.

Below is based on the text of the Lost Property Act, the Civil Code, and the Penal Code (e-Gov Japanese Law Search), and guidance from the National Police Agency and the Metropolitan Police Department, as of September 2026. If you’re unsure how to handle something you’ve found, or want to know what’s happened to something you’ve lost, check with your nearest police station or police box. This article does not judge individual cases.

If You Find Something: Police for the Street, Staff for a Shop or Station

Article 4 of the Lost Property Act provides that a finder must “promptly” either return the item to its owner or hand it to a chief of police. The National Police Agency states you may report it at any police station, police box, or residential police box.

If you found the item inside a shop or station, the handling changes. Paragraph 2 of the same article states that someone who finds an item inside a facility must hand it not to the police, but to the manager of that facility (called a “facility occupant” in the law’s wording). “Facility” here means a building or similar place with someone always managing it, and includes vehicles such as trains, buses, ships, and aircraft (Article 2, Paragraph 5). The National Police Agency’s guidance gives examples such as stations, department stores, amusement parks, hotels, hospitals, buildings, and trains, buses, and taxis, and asks that items be handed to station staff, employees, or shop staff.

When you report to the police, you’re given a “found-item receipt slip” that records the date, time, and place you found it, the item’s features, and the period during which you can claim it (Article 5). Keep it, since you’ll need it if no owner is found and the item becomes yours.

“Promptly” and “Within 7 Days”

The duty to report is itself framed as “promptly,” with no number of days given. The number of days comes up as a condition for losing the finder’s rights. Article 34 provides that a finder who has not handed the item to the police within one week of finding it, or who has not handed it to facility staff within 24 hours when found inside a facility, loses the reward and the right to receive the lost property described below. National Police Agency guidance likewise states “within 7 days (within 24 hours if found at a place with a manager).”

Keeping something you found without reporting it can be a crime. Article 254 of the Penal Code provides that a person who embezzles lost property or other property that has left another’s possession is punished by imprisonment for not more than 1 year, or a fine or petty fine of not more than 100,000 yen.

Three Rights the Finder Holds

According to National Police Agency guidance, a person who reports as required has the following three rights. You may choose one or more to claim, or waive all of them.

• The right to a reward: when the owner is found, the owner must pay the finder a reward of not less than 5% and not more than 20% of the item’s value (Article 28, Paragraph 1). If the item was found inside a facility, the finder and the facility split this in half, so National Police Agency guidance gives a range of 2.5% to 10% of the value (Article 28, Paragraph 2). A national or local government body cannot make this claim (Article 28, Paragraph 3).
• The right to receive the lost property: if a certain period passes with no owner found, the finder gains ownership of the item (Civil Code, Article 240).
• The right to claim expenses: any costs, such as transport, incurred in the reporting are borne by the owner (Article 27).

The Act only sets a range for the reward amount and leaves how it’s paid to be worked out between finder and owner, per National Police Agency guidance. When claiming a reward or expenses, the finder’s name and address are given to the owner. Under the Act’s design, the police may tell the owner the finder’s name and other details only if the finder consents (Article 11). Rewards and expenses cannot be claimed once one month has passed since the lost property was returned to its owner (Article 29).

Deadlines From Reporting to Collection

Each deadline starts counting from a different point. Here are the main ones, drawn from the Act and National Police Agency guidance.

National Police Agency guidance states that the police keep received items for 3 months, using public notice and inquiries to related bodies during that time to search for the owner. Items that spoil quickly or would cost too much to keep may be sold sooner (Article 9, Paragraph 1). If sold, the proceeds are treated as the lost property.

Formerly 6 Months, Now 3 Months

The current Lost Property Act completely replaced the old law of 1899, was promulgated on June 15, 2006, and took effect on December 10, 2007 (the effective date comes from the supplementary provisions of the Lost Property Act Enforcement Order). At the same time, Article 3 of that law’s supplementary provisions amended Civil Code Article 240, shortening the period for a finder to gain ownership when no owner is found from “six months” to “three months.” Older explanations that say “6 months” refer to the rule before this amendment.

Items You Can’t Keep Even If You Found Them

Even after 3 months with no owner found, there are items a finder cannot receive. Article 35 provides that ownership cannot be gained for the following.

• Items whose possession is prohibited by law or ordinance
• Documents and the like proving a person’s identity or status (equivalent to ID)
• Documents or electromagnetic records containing personal secrets
• Documents or electromagnetic records recording the address or contact details of the owner or related persons
• Documents or electromagnetic records recording a database of personal information

The National Police Agency gives credit cards, ID documents, and mobile phones as examples, since they carry personal information. If no owner is found, such items are disposed of (Article 37, Paragraph 2). In the Metropolitan Police Department’s 2025 statistics too, the number of mobile phones and ID documents handed over to finders was 0.

If you lose your residence card, you need to report it to the police and apply for reissuance at an immigration services bureau. The procedure is covered in the “Other Points to Note” section of our article on the specified residence card.

If You Lose Something: File a Lost-Property Report

If you lose something, you file a “lost-property report” (ishitsu todoke) with the police. According to the National Police Agency, the police cross-check the content of found-item reports and lost-property reports through their system, among other means, to search for the owner. The more you can specify — the date, time, and place you lost it, the item’s color and shape, its name or number (such as the kana name and account number on a cash card) — the easier it is to match. Since items handed to the police are kept for 3 months, they ask that you report as soon as you notice a loss.

The same guidance also states that a lost-property report doesn’t prove the fact that something was lost, nor does the police search based on the report. When it’s found, you’ll be contacted by the police station that received it. If a cash card, credit card, or mobile phone was among what you lost, the guidance advises contacting the issuing company or mobile carrier, separately from the police, to stop its use.

• If you lost it at a shop or station: first ask the facility. The National Police Agency notes it can take one to two weeks for an item lost inside a facility to reach the police. Items lost on a train may be handed to the police station covering the terminal station and similar points.
• Railway, bus, ship, and airline companies: the Act and its Enforcement Order designate operators such as railway, scheduled bus, scheduled route, and scheduled air carriers as “special facility occupants,” letting them keep certain items themselves without submitting them to the police (Article 17; Enforcement Order Article 5). According to the Metropolitan Police Department, 21 operators and 70 facilities in Tokyo fell into this category in 2025.
• Checking online: each prefectural police force publishes information on the found items it has received (Article 8, Paragraph 2). From the National Police Agency’s “Lost Property Report/Search” page, you can go to each prefecture’s search page. Some prefectures let you file a lost-property report online; where no such link is given, you’re asked to report at a police station or police box.
• Collection: after your identity as the owner is confirmed, the item is returned in exchange for a receipt (Article 11, Paragraph 1). According to the National Police Agency, if it’s difficult to go to the police station, you can ask to receive it by mail once your identity is confirmed, and you bear the postage.

In case something is found after you’ve left Japan, the National Police Agency asks that you write a phone number or email address on the lost-property report that you can still be reached at after returning home. If someone in Japan can receive it on your behalf, write their contact details too.

Lost Property by the Numbers

According to the 2025 edition of the Police White Paper, in 2024 the police nationwide received found-item reports covering 23.3 billion yen in cash and 31.28 million items. Lost-property reports listed 36.7 billion yen in cash and 11.61 million items.

In the Metropolitan Police Department’s 2025 statistics, covering Tokyo, there were 4,538,244 found-item reports, with about 4.5 billion yen (4,508,824,075 yen) in cash reported and 4,850,775 items. The most common items were ID documents (819,602 items, 16.9%), followed by securities, clothing and footwear, electrical appliances, and wallets. In the same year, about 3.2 billion yen (3,229,585,264 yen) in cash was returned to owners.

The difference between the non-emergency police consultation line (#9110) and 110 is covered in our article on emergency calls in Japan.