With a heart of hospitality-Lost and Lost Items from Foreigners Visiting Japan September 20 14:02
The number of foreign tourists visiting Japan is increasing, and next year the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will be held. The government is aiming for 40 million foreign visitors to Japan every year. At the same time, there are a lot of lost and lost items from foreigners. Efforts are being made to drop important things at travel destinations and make foreigners in need feel safe. The keyword is “heart of hospitality”. (Video Center Photographer Yusuke Yoshida)
Increasing number of foreigners visiting Japan
Over the past year, the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan has exceeded 30 million, a record high for the seventh consecutive year. Along with that, things left behind and lost by foreigners visiting Japan are increasing.
According to the National Police Agency, the number of lost items delivered to police stations nationwide last year was 29.5 million, the highest since 1964 when statistics began. The reason is that the number of foreign tourists is increasing.
The voice that was saved
When I asked tourists if they had any troubles in their travel destinations, they repeatedly heard that they had an experience of forgetting important things.
A man who went sightseeing from the United States said he had left his bag while going to the bathroom. However, it is said that a nearby man told me immediately. The man said, “I think it is a wonderful and generous“ hospitality ”.”
A man who came from China dropped a cell phone for two consecutive days at a large tourist facility. This also means that the staff quickly found it and returned. The man said, “I think it ’s wonderful. If you ’re in China, your mobile phone wo n’t come back.”
Railway companies are also “no hospitality”
Efforts to ensure that foreigners in need are at ease are progressing in various places. In Tokyo Metro, which operates subways in Tokyo, there are many cases where things that are seen as lost or lost items by foreigners are delivered.
At Ueno Station, where there are many passengers, over 100 inquiries are received a day when there are many inquiries from foreigners. A variety of important passports and bags, etc. At Ueno Station, 27 cases were returned to foreigners only last month. In order to make foreigners feel at ease, Tokyo Metro continues to make certain efforts when calling employees every morning. That is studying English.
Some staff members cannot speak foreign languages well, so I repeatedly write examples of phrases frequently asked by foreigners on paper. For example, when asked where the lost items are stored, "The lost item is at this station." Also, every morning, the phrase “Please ask at the getting-off station” is repeated to indicate the place where the possibility of dropping is high.
Tokyo Metro is looking forward to further support for next year so that foreign tourists can consult with us in the future. Tomoharu Ida, head of the Tokyo Metro Ueno station affairs district, says, “I want to use various languages and tools to guide customers in need more comfortably.”
We are troubled with storage place
It's not just the railway companies that have increased the number of forgotten foreign visitors. The hotel is the same. Foreigners account for approximately 40% of guests at hotels in Asakusa, Tokyo.
Valuables such as wallets and keys. In addition, stuffed animals that seem to be clothing and souvenirs are all leftovers left in rooms. Some suitcases seemed to have been thrown away. According to the hotel, foreigners' lost items have increased by about 30% compared to the same period last year.
The storage place is a burden for the hotel. The baggage left in the room is obliged to store for a certain period of time, and clearly discarded items cannot be discarded without permission.
At the hotel, customers are contacted and returned as much as possible. However, securing storage space and responding to users who have returned home are at a heavy burden.
Yoshio Tsuchiya, manager of the Asakusa View Hotel Accommodation Division, says, “I have a desire to deliver it to customers as soon as possible, but it has been difficult to find a specific solution.”
Attention agency service
What should I do with lost / lost items of foreigners? Some companies return to overseas on behalf of hotels, etc., and their services are attracting attention.
Osaka-based logistics company O-S-S has contracts with approximately 1,000 hotels and rental car companies nationwide to provide services to return foreign items to overseas.
The number of requests was about 300 a month last year, but rapidly increased to about 1200 at the same time. For this reason, the company is busy with the work of returning about 40 forgotten items overseas.
The company first asks the hotel to get in touch with the customer and agree to be the agent. Then, the hotel will send the package to the company.
The company that received the package opens the package and sorts it into something that can't be shipped, such as a spray can that can catch fire, and something that can.
The mailing fee is paid by credit card online and sent overseas by international mail. The cost is that it can be delivered for about 4000 yen in Asia if the smartphone weighs up to 500 grams.
A lot of thank-you emails from foreigners who have forgotten things such as "Thank you for the memories of my trip to Japan. Thank you" or "It is a very good service. I will definitely visit Japan." It has been.
President Shuichi Aramoto said, “I want to expand the impression that foreign customers who have come to Japan have a wonderful country that they have arrived when they left something in Japan. I want to respond. ”
Hospitality heart
Japan Tourism Agency that sends Japanese goodness overseas. I would like to introduce a project for returning lost items to foreign countries by taking up lost items and lost items of foreigners as an issue at a related event of the G20 Tourism Ministers' Meeting in October.
“The better hospitality can be achieved by linking companies that solve the problem of forgotten things and private businesses that seek it,” said the assistant director of Asano Hokuto, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
To make you feel safe Japan
We interviewed several companies, such as hotels and car rental companies, that had lost or lost items for foreigners. Although there were certainly voices saying that they were in trouble, many of them said that they wanted to do something, and that they didn't want them to feel uncomfortable when they came to Japan.
Next year, the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will be held. I wanted many foreign customers to touch the “heart of hospitality” and hope that measures will be taken so that they can experience “a safe Japan where forgotten or lost items come back.”
Video center photographer
Yusuke Yoshida