July 16, 2007
Japan's yen santa strikes again
Case of mystery person who leaves stacks of 10,000 yen notes in
public toilets makes it to top news item in Japan
By Kwan Weng Kin
TOKYO - JAPAN is abuzz over the mystery of 10,000 yen (S$124) notes
being left in public toilets around the country.
The identity of the enigmatic benefactor has become the top news
item on Japanese television networks, beating out murders,
accidents and even news of the upcoming Upper House
elections.
Most observers believe the person behind the cash-in-the-loo is
likely to be a man, someone in his 60s, if not 70s, with a secret
desire to do good.
To fulfil this, he has been mysteriously leaving notes wrapped in
traditional Japanese paper in the toilets of municipal offices
around Japan over the past few months.
Reports say that since a pile of these 10,000 yen notes appeared in
Sendai city, north of Tokyo, in April, similar piles have popped up
with some regularity at some 50 locations in 19 prefectures, from
Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south, over the past few
months.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government said it made a similar find on
June 14 in one of its toilets, as did the nearby Shinjuku Ward
Office.
The amount of money ranges from 60,000 yen to 100,000 yen each time
and they are invariably left on days marked 'auspicious' in the
traditional Japanese calendar.
Governor Hideo Higashikokubaru of Miyazaki Prefecture, where a
stack of notes was found in a municipal office toilet late last
month, quipped: 'I wish whoever it is would come forward and make a
donation rather than scatter the money this way.'
Evidence so far points to one individual working alone.
The 10,000 yen notes first made their appearance in July last year
in the men's toilet of a cemetery in Himeji city, Hyogo Prefecture,
in western Japan. In September, they surfaced in another cemetery
in Shizuoka city, central Japan.
But since this April, the baffling benefactor has preferred to
leave his cash in the men's toilets of public buildings.
The money is also always placed near the sink where it can be
easily spotted.
Each note is wrapped in a sheet of white paper carrying handwritten
words that read 'Offering - one person per envelope'.
Each note also comes with a one-page letter neatly written with a
brush- pen.
'Please use this money to learn something for your own
self-enrichment,' it entreats the finder.
The networks trotted out handwriting experts who confirmed that all
the letters were the work of one and the same person and that the
choice of words suggests that the letter-writer is a retiree in his
60s or 70s, at any rate someone who is wealthy enough to travel
around the country.
The experts also suggested, looking at the brush strokes, that he
was a fastidious and very careful person.
But the man's obsession with toilets in municipal offices remains
puzzling.
One theory put forward is that he is using the money as an
encouragement to government officials not to lose heart, since the
bureaucracy is the frequent target of criticism these days.
Another theory says the man could be a thrill-seeker, who revels in
the fact that his actions have got the nation all agog.
So far, the money left by him and handed over to the police has
amounted to over 4.5 million yen, the astonishing figure itself a
testimony to the honesty of the Japanese.
By law, the money found is kept by the police for six months in
case someone comes forward to claim it.
After that, it becomes the property of the finder.
But many government offices say they may use the money for
miscellaneous expenditure.
Similar cases involving the anonymous distribution of cash have
occurred in the past.
In what was dubbed the 'strange Santa Claus affair', homes in a
Tokyo residential district found their mailboxes stuffed with
bundles of 1,000 yen notes from late 1964 to early 1965.
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