Expectation of honesty

This is a picture of the parking lot of what for a long time was a noodle shop. That closed and a fried chicken boxed lunch restaurant opened in the small building. It was quite good, and cheap, so we bought them occasionally to have as lunch. However, one day as I walked passed, I discovered a rope across the entrance to the parking lot and a sign that said that the shop was temporarily closed. There was no explanation as to why it was no longer open.

Then one day during the summer, I walked by and found what you can see in the picture. There are a large number of stainless steel kitchen sinks and other kitchen furniture. From watching TV programs about fixing up homes, I know that the cost of this sort of thing, even used, is at least US$200. The one in the bottom right corner probably would sell for at least US$300. This means that there is more than US$1,000 worth of things just sitting here in the open. Anyone with a truck could just come and haul it away. No one would notice until the owner came back. However, this has been there for a few months and I expect that it will remain there until reclaimed by the owner.

If you lose something in Japan, it will probably be returned if the finder can identify you as the owner. The major exceptions to this are bicycles and umbrellas. If you find money and take it to a police station, they will try very hard to find the owner and then 'ask' that person to give you a reward of 10 to 20%. If they can not locate the owner, the entire amount becomes yours after six months. This apparently applies to objects as well as money.

When things like towels, pencil cases, etc, things that are not particularly valuable, are dropped on the street or left somewhere, the custom here is to put them on something so that they can be seen, hopefully, by the person who lost it.