Indian woman loses purse with valuables worth nearly ₹1 lakh in Japan, stranger returns everything: ‘I want to cry’

A forgotten purse in a bicycle basket

Sonam Midha, an Indian woman traveling in Japan, had an unexpected turn of events when she realized she had lost her purse containing cash, house keys, and an expensive microphone. She had gone to a restaurant with a friend on a rented bicycle and placed the purse in the bicycle's basket before entering. After spending nearly an hour inside, she returned to find the purse missing.

"I almost lost 1 lakh rupees today," she said in a video shared on Instagram, as reported by Hindustan Times and India Today. The purse contained cash, her house keys, and a recently purchased DJI microphone, according to Hindustan Times.

Panic and a trip to the police station

Midha and her friend searched the bicycle and the surrounding area, but the purse was nowhere to be found. Assuming it had been stolen, she decided to report the incident at a nearby police station. At the station, she described the purse's contents to the officers, who told her that a matching bag had been handed in just a short while earlier.

"When I told them all the things, they said that they had a purse kept with them that someone had just turned in. So when I looked, it was actually my purse," she said, as quoted by Free Press Journal and India Today.

Everything returned intact

Midha discovered that all her belongings were still inside, including the cash and the microphone. The person who found the purse had handed it over without taking anything. Hindustan Times reported that the stranger chose not to reveal their identity.

Midha was visibly emotional, saying, "I wanted to cry, like, such nice people! People here are so kind, and humanity still exists here. And thank you, Japan," as reported by India Today and Free Press Journal. She later captioned the video, "Visiting the Police station and seeing an officer expecting my arrival was not on my bingo card of this year. Love you Japan."

The incident prompted Instagram users to share their own experiences of having lost items returned by strangers in Japan, as noted by Hindustan Times and India Today.