It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan

Re:It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan by ehnto on Saturday March 12, 2022 @01:45AM (#30649477)

Here's my anecdote: I lost my phone in Japan once, in Tokyo. I was steaming after a night of karaoke and somewhere between the bar, taxi and my hotel, I'd lost my phone. I wandered down to the street at 3am, retracing my steps, and a police officer noticed me and asked what I was looking for. He pointed me back to the hotel reception where where we got on the phone to the taxi company, and then directly onto the driver, who said he hadn't found anything. What was odd, was that I didn't know the taxi company at all, the receptionist had just remembered what I pulled up in.

Accepting that I had lost my phone in a foreign country, I went back upstairs and found it immediately upon walking back into the room. I'd just dropped it under my bag. I went back down and apologized for wasting the receptionists time, but they wouldn't accept it.

The morale of the story being that there was no shortage of help, and that I was a big dummy.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan by johnwalkr on Saturday March 12, 2022 @07:08AM (#30650832)

I had a GPS mishap in Nagano that ended up with my rental car at the top of a ski slope. In my defense it happens a lot because there’s a road there only open in summer, no indication it’s not a road after a certain point in the winter (it’s a groomed ski run), and has street lights that sure make it look like the road continues.

The owner of my $50 a night hotel picked us up where I was stuck, insisting we take our skis with us. The next morning he took my keys and insisted we go skiing, and he would take care of getting the car out. He said it would be about $50 (rough conversion from yen) to pay for a tow out with the resort’s groomer. All in all he probably spent 6 hours helping me. The bill was actually $100 (still much cheaper than I actually expected), but he would only accept $50 since that’s what he told me earlier. His wife also called the GPS manufacturer and complained.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan by tluyben2 on Saturday March 12, 2022 @02:43AM (#30649733)

> I'd just dropped it under my bag

We (wife and me) had a, now hilarious, run through Melbourne Chasing my iPhone which was ‘stolen’ when we were in a restaurant ; we used the Apple find my phone feature and the phone kept moving all through Melbourne. We had told hotel staff to open up a room we ‘knew’ it was in (luckily they did not), we chased a truck, etc etc. It was in our hotel room, under my bag all that time; I set the stolen sound so it must have made a hell of a fuss; it was making alarm sounds until it was empty. Apple find my phone was absolutely worthless in Melbourne, not sure if it improved but it was fun after; I did not know I would or could run this many miles for a phone. Definitely alcohol as a sober me would’ve probably just emailed the insurance and got a new phone.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan by yaysyu on Saturday March 12, 2022 @04:47AM (#30650278)

As a resident of Melbourne, I have the same bad experience with GPS signals in the CBD. Something to do with the narrow laneways as well as the tall buildings obscuring the GPS signal

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan by tluyben2 on Saturday March 12, 2022 @05:22AM (#30650401)

It kept bouncing between Russell and Lonsdale, the entire roads; we saw the signal moving down and up Lonsdale and then into Rusell, sometimes going into shops or hotels. The crafty squire guy was the first one who said that gps doesn’t really work in the center. Hope covid allows us to visit again soon; during covid many of my friends there moved up north to Queensland for more and cheaper space.

Edit; sorry, I always berate people for the word friends (because people use the word for people they have met once and say crap like; I invited 1000 close friends to my wedding etc) and now I do it myself; I have 1 friend and a bunch of ‘personal acquaintances’ in Melbourne.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan by astrange on Tuesday March 15, 2022 @05:35AM (#30683336)

Tall buildings do block GPS, but being near an outer wall inside a tall building also confuses wifi location because you get pings from far away networks.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan by stevekemp on Saturday March 12, 2022 @03:51AM (#30650043)

> I was steaming after a ..

Every now and again I get a feeling of nostalgia for the Scotland, and I have to say reading that reminded me so strongly of being there it was unreal.

You could be from anywhere, but it's fascinating what even a single word of slang or dialect will trigger memories and emotions.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan by ehnto on Saturday March 12, 2022 @05:04AM (#30650336)

That's interesting, I'm from Aus but I'd say we get a lot of our drinking culture directly from the monarchy haha. I've noticed more of it around the city areas of Australia though, out in the sticks we'd have a "coupla beers" or "tinnies" but in the city it's often "out for a few pints" instead.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan by toast0 on Saturday March 12, 2022 @02:53AM (#30649774)

> I'd just dropped it under my bag.

That reminds me of when I was on a work trip, my wife came with me, but went sightseeing on the weekdays. One day she had gone to Versailles, and wasn't back by the time I got to the hotel after work. After waiting a reasonable amount of time, I called her cell phone and heard it ringing and just about died of anxiety. Fortunately, her phone wasn't left in the room, she was in the hallway, seconds away from opening the door.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:It’s almost impossible to lose anything in Japan by wirthjason on Saturday March 12, 2022 @02:01AM (#30649543)

    > I was steaming after a night of karaoke and somewhere between the bar, taxi and my hotel, I'd lost my phone.

A lost phone sobers you up pretty quickly! Especially for what would have been a very fun night. I’m sure there was a nice sigh of relief after getting your phone back though. All is well that ends well!

[ Parent | on HN ]