SAKADO, Saitama Prefecture -- A plastic bag containing 10 million yen ($130,000) was found in a restroom at the city hall building here with an anonymous note saying: "I am all alone. Please use this money for Tohoku people.”
SAKADO, Saitama Prefecture -- A plastic bag containing 10 million yen ($130,000) was found in a restroom at the city hall building here with an anonymous note saying: "I am all alone. Please use this money for Tohoku people.”
A male employee in the disabled people's welfare section at Sakado city hall discovered the cash when he accompanied a user to a restroom for disabled people on the ground floor at 1:45 p.m. on Sept. 22, the city government said Sept. 28.
The city plans to donate the money to the Japanese Red Cross Society.
"I am impressed by the valuable offer by a citizen," said Hitoshi Iri, the mayor of Sakado.
Some of the banknote bundles in the bag were wrapped in Postal Savings currency straps. The note was written with a ball-point pen on white paper. The bag also contained a brochure distributed by the city that called for donations for survivors in the Tohoku region of the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake.
Judging from the manner in which the money was placed, and the fact that the sum left was so large, officials at the disabled people's welfare section said they suspect the money was left by an elderly male citizen.
The city government also sought advice from the Nishi-Iruma Station of the Saitama prefectural police. Police said they do not consider the money as lost property because the intention of the person who left it was clear.
However, the city plans to keep the money for three months, after which ownership is transferred to the finder, according to the Lost Property Act.