Karma and the mysterious phone call

So I biked into the city, as I do every now and then (read: about once a week), only this time at night with my full light set up. This involves a flashing red beacon on the back, my 6lb motorcycle battery strapped on the rack, and my 25 Watt homemade light velcro'd onto the front.

Yes, it's serious, but very enjoyable: The light is so powerful the signs actually glow as they would normally if you were driving a car at night!

I rounded a corner right near Champclair, and almost ran over a small black object on the ground. Despite only getting a split second look at it, I somehow (and correctly) knew it was ... a wallet. I go back and pick it up, stuffing it in my pocket to check out later.

Turns out it was a hefty thing, black, with some fancy brand name that I'd never heard of. There was one of those special 2000yen notes in it, along with a handful of change, but no serious cash, and TONS of cards.

I decided to return it myself to the police station. I went with Kanae in case there were any serious problems, but there were none. We actually went at 9pm to the "konban" or police branch, but there were no policemen there are all. Then we went after the bar at about 2am, and there were 5!!! Fancy that, at 2am the place is packed, an hour when nobody would go most likely, yet at 9pm, still a reasonable time, it was deserted.

Yes, that's Japan for you.

So I show the wallet, say how I found it and am turning it in, and the policeman pulls out a pair of rubber gloves and starts to sort out all the contents. Hello, I've been touching the thing, what's the reason for the professional gloves? Anyways, they count the money, take inventory of the important cards, then have me fill out a form which has my address, phone number, etc. on it. I do so, and when putting in my apartment address, they ask what kind of building I live in.

An apartment I say. Oh, then what's the room number, they ask. "There is none," was my reply. "That's impossible," the policeman told me. ??? Huh, uh, hello, I know my address. So he keeps telling me that's not right, and after a minute I finally whip out my gaijin card and shove in front of him and ask him if he's got any other questions or can I leave (this was taking much longer than I thought it would or should).

Regardless, all said and done, it took about a half hour. Turns out if they are unable to find the owner of the wallet in 6 months, then the money in the wallet is mine (all 2000yen and change, whoo hoo).

Two nights ago, at nearly 10pm I got a call. I expected it to be from CJ since I had e-mailed him to call be before 10, and since nobody else calls really, I picked up the phone answering with some slangy English rhetoric like "yo, nagasaki homeboy," and get instead silence, then a Japanese voice explaining that she is sorry for calling so late and her name is Katayama-san.

I completely forgot about the wallet (the gal's name was Yuka Katayama, hopefully posting this doesn't get me in trouble with the law somehow), and how I had put my home phone number on it.

Regardless, after about 3 minutes of me asking who she was, and finally understanding her answer (in my defense, she was using TONS of polite Japanese, like itadaku and keredomo), so I was super confused. Finally it dawned on me, and my reply of "aaaah.... yuka-chan" broke the tension.

I told her no worries, and have a good night.