Lost Property Act

遺失物法（いしつぶつほう）

What someone who finds lost property must do with it, how the police and the occupants of facilities where things are found return it to the person who lost it, and who pays the costs, earns a reward and comes to own it.

Text in force since
Promulgated
Articles: 44
Amendments on the way: 0

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What this law does

A finder must promptly either return what they found to the person who lost it or hand it in to the chief of a police station (). An item that is illegal to possess, or that appears to have been held by a criminal, must be handed in to the police station chief promptly.(Art. 4(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

Read the full overview

Someone other than the occupant who finds an item other than buried property inside a facility — a building or other facility, vehicles, ships and aircraft included, where a person managing it is always present — must instead promptly hand it to the facility's occupant (施設占有者). The occupant must then promptly return it to the person who lost it or hand it in to a police station chief () — an item illegal to possess or that appears to have been held by a criminal must always go to the police — and look after it with due care until then. On the finder's request, the occupant must give them a written record of the item's type and features, when it was received, and the facility's name and address and the occupant's name.(Art. 4(2), Art. 2(5), Art. 2(6), Art. 13(1), Art. 15(1), Art. 14(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
A finder who does not hand an item in to a police station chief (警察署長) within one week of finding it, or who finds it in a facility and does not hand it to the occupant within 24 hours, loses the right to claim the reward and costs and the right to become its owner. The same rights are lost by anyone punished for embezzling an item they found or received, and by a facility occupant that does not hand an item in to the police within one week of receiving or finding it. For a special-case facility occupant (特例施設占有者) the limit is two weeks, unless it reported the item instead — one week for items illegal to possess, items that appear to have been held by a criminal, and the high-value items a Cabinet Order (政令) sets.(Art. 34(1), Art. 34(1)(i), Art. 34(1)(ii), Art. 34(1)(iii), Art. 34(1)(iv), Art. 34(1)(v)) (the provisions it rests on)
A person who gets an item back must pay the finder a reward () of 5% to 20% of its value, or of the sale price if it was sold. Where a facility occupant received the item, the finder and the occupant are each paid half of that amount. The reward can no longer be claimed once one month has passed since the item was returned.(Art. 28(1), Art. 28(2), Art. 29(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
The costs of handing in, passing on and keeping an item are borne by the person who gets it back, or by the person who becomes its owner and collects it; they too can no longer be claimed once one month has passed since the item was returned. Articles 295 to 302 of the Civil Code (民法), a separate Act, apply to these costs. A finder can avoid these costs by giving up all rights in the item, telling the police station chief (警察署長) beforehand, or the facility occupant for an item found in a facility.(Art. 27(1), Art. 27(2), Art. 29(1), Art. 30(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Articles 240 and 241 of the Civil Code (民法), a separate Act, decide when a finder of lost or buried property becomes its owner, and this Act applies Article 240 to quasi-lost property (準遺失物) too. Under this Act a finder also becomes owner where everyone who lost the item gives up their rights in it, except for some buried property, which follows the Civil Code; either way, an owner who does not collect the item from the police station chief (警察署長) or the special-case facility occupant (特例施設占有者) within two months of becoming owner loses it. Where no one who lost it is found within three months of the police notice (six for buried property), or all of them give up their rights, and nobody becomes or remains owner, it goes to the prefecture of the police station keeping it — to the State for an item illegal to possess — or to the special-case facility occupant keeping it.(Art. 3(1), Art. 27(1), Art. 32(1), Art. 36(1), Art. 37(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

Article 1 sets out what this Act covers (趣旨)

Handing in found propertyItems found in a facilityPolice public noticeSpecial-case facility occupantsCostsFinder's rewardLosing the finder's rightsWho comes to own the item

44 87 42 5 20

Amendments

A Japanese law is changed by another law or order that rewrites it — an . No amendment to this law is waiting to come into force. Its latest amendments are below. This law's amendments page lists every amendment e-Gov records and, for those whose changes this site has read, shows them provision by provision, in Japanese and English.

6 amendments already in force

1 June 2025
The text on this site
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.
刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
17 June 2022
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.
刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 April 2022
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts for the Formation of a Digital Society
デジタル社会の形成を図るための関係法律の整備に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
19 May 2021
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts for the Formation of a Digital Society
デジタル社会の形成を図るための関係法律の整備に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
30 May 2017
Act Partially Amending the Act on the Protection of Personal Information and the Act on the Use of Numbers to Identify a Specific Individual in Administrative Procedures
個人情報の保護に関する法律及び行政手続における特定の個人を識別するための番号の利用等に関する法律の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 September 2013
e-Gov gives no title for this amendment
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

Who it applies to

It applies to

Finders (拾得者): anyone who makes a finding of lost property, buried property or quasi-lost property (準遺失物) — someone else's thing taken by mistake, a thing someone left behind, or livestock that has strayed. A finding is taking possession of the item, except that for buried property and things left behind it is discovering them.(Art. 2(1), Art. 2(2), Art. 2(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
People who lost an item (遺失者): whoever possessed it, together with its owner or anyone else entitled to have it back. When they get it back, they pay the costs and the finder's reward.(Art. 2(4), Art. 27(1), Art. 28(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

4 more

Facility occupants (施設占有者): the occupant of a building or other facility, vehicles, ships and aircraft included, where a person managing it is always present. Those whose facility is used by many members of the public must also post notice of the items they receive or find where users can see it, or keep it on file for the people concerned to inspect freely.(Art. 2(5), Art. 2(6), Art. 13(1), Art. 16(1), Art. 16(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
Special-case facility occupants (特例施設占有者): occupants of facilities used by many members of the public that receive many items and can keep them properly, as a Cabinet Order (政令) defines them. They must keep a register of the items they keep and preserve it, and return an item only after confirming who is claiming it and against a receipt. They may tell the person who lost an item the finder's name and address only if the finder agrees, and tell a finder who agreed the name and address of the person who lost it.(Art. 17(1), Art. 23(1), Art. 22(1), Art. 22(2), Art. 22(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
Those who must hand in what a special-case facility occupant (特例施設占有者) kept: the occupant itself when it stops being one, and, when it dies or ends, the relatives who lived with it or its legal representative, its liquidator or bankruptcy trustee, or, after a merger, the representative of the corporation that survives it or is set up by it, unless that corporation remains a special-case facility occupant. They must hand the items to a police station chief () without delay, with a copy of the register.(Art. 24(1), Art. 24(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
A special-case facility occupant (特例施設占有者) may sell an item it keeps that may perish or be damaged or is too costly to keep, and may sell the everyday or costly-to-keep items a Cabinet Order (政令) lists if the person who lost them is not found within two weeks of the police notice; neither applies to the items Article 35 lists. The money, less the cost of the sale, then stands in for the item; where there is ground for a sale but no buyer comes forward, a sale would not cover its cost, or the item cannot be sold, it may be destroyed or otherwise disposed of. The occupant must tell a police station chief (警察署長) beforehand of any sale, and of any disposal other than one for want of a buyer.(Art. 20(1), Art. 20(2), Art. 20(3), Art. 20(5), Art. 21(1), Art. 21(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

Special rules and exceptions (7)

A finder who has asked for a dog or cat to be taken in under Article 35(3) of the Act on Welfare and Management of Animals (動物の愛護及び管理に関する法律), a separate Act, does not have the duties to hand it to the person who lost it, the police or a facility occupant.(Art. 4(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
A special-case facility occupant (特例施設占有者) that cannot return an item need not hand it in to the police if it reports it to a police station chief () within two weeks of receiving or finding it; it then keeps the item with due care, and the police post the notice. This does not cover high-value items a Cabinet Order (政令) sets, or items illegal to possess or that appear to have been held by a criminal, which must still be handed in to the police.(Art. 17(1), Art. 18(1), Art. 13(1), Art. 4(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
The State, local governments, incorporated administrative agencies and other public corporations cannot claim the finder's reward ().(Art. 28(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
No reward is due for someone else's thing taken by mistake, and the costs incurred by the person who took it by mistake are not among the costs the person who lost it must bear.(Art. 28(1), Art. 27(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Neither a finder nor anyone else can come to own — under the Civil Code (民法), a separate Act, or because everyone who lost it gave up their rights — an item illegal to possess (except items a Cabinet Order (政令) lists that a permit allows), or a document, drawing or electronic record that proves a person's identity, status or personal rights, records personal secrets, shows the address or contact details of the person who lost it or someone connected to them, or holds a personal information database not in wide circulation. Such documents, drawings and records pass to no one, neither the prefecture nor a special-case facility occupant (特例施設占有者): if everyone who lost them gives up their rights, or nobody is found within three months of the notice, the police or the special-case facility occupant must destroy them promptly.(Art. 35(1), Art. 37(1), Art. 37(2), Art. 37(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
A person who lost an item can give up their rights in it, and then owes neither the costs nor the reward. A finder who becomes owner because of that can in turn give up the item to avoid the costs.(Art. 31(1), Art. 32(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
If a finder who handed an item to a facility occupant gives up their rights in it, or loses them by not handing it over within 24 hours, the occupant is treated as the finder: it can come to own the item under Article 240 of the Civil Code (民法), a separate Act, or because everyone who lost it gave up their rights, and it can give up its own rights to avoid the costs.(Art. 33(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it is enforced (7)

A police station chief () who receives an item gives the finder a document showing it was handed in, and returns it to the person who lost it after confirming who they are, in exchange for a receipt. The chief may tell the person who lost it the finder's name and address only if the finder agrees, and may tell a finder who agreed the name and address of the person who lost it. When a facility occupant hands the item in, the document goes to the occupant, and names are told only with the consent of the finder or occupant concerned.(Art. 5(1), Art. 6(1), Art. 11(1), Art. 11(2), Art. 11(3), Art. 13(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where the police station chief (警察署長) cannot identify or find the person who lost an item, the chief posts a public notice (公告) of the item's type and features and of when and where it was found on the station's notice board, or keeps a written notice there for the people concerned to inspect freely. The notice stays up for three months (six for buried property) unless the person who lost it turns up. Each prefecture's police publish information on the items noticed, on the internet or otherwise, and pass notice of valuable items, as National Public Safety Commission Rules (国家公安委員会規則) define them, to the police of the other prefectures.(Art. 7(1), Art. 7(2), Art. 7(3), Art. 7(4), Art. 8(1), Art. 8(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
The police station chief (警察署長) may sell an item that may perish or be damaged or is too costly to keep, and may sell everyday items such as umbrellas, clothes and bicycles that a Cabinet Order (政令) lists, or items a Cabinet Order sets as costly to keep, if the person who lost them is not found within two weeks of the notice. The money from a sale, less its cost, then stands in for the item; where there is ground for a sale but no buyer comes forward, a sale would not cover its cost, or the item cannot be sold, it may be destroyed or otherwise disposed of. Neither sale applies to the items Article 35 lists, of which no one can acquire ownership under the Civil Code (民法) or through the others' waiver, and the two-week sale does not apply to buried property.(Art. 9(1), Art. 9(2), Art. 9(4), Art. 10(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
The prefectural Public Safety Commission (公安委員会) may require facility occupants to report on items they received or found, and may require a special-case facility occupant (特例施設占有者) to report on, or show, the items it keeps. Where an occupant or its agent or employee breaks the duties to hand items on, to return them properly, to keep the register or to destroy personal records, or sells or disposes of items, or tries to, other than as allowed, and the Commission finds this may harm the person who lost an item or the finder, it may give the occupant the instructions needed to protect them.(Art. 25(1), Art. 25(2), Art. 26(1), Art. 26(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
Disobeying such an instruction is punishable by imprisonment (拘禁刑) of up to six months or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.(Art. 41(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
A fine of up to 300,000 yen punishes a facility occupant that refuses a finder the written record or gives a false one, or does not report or reports falsely when the Commission asks, and a special-case facility occupant (特例施設占有者) that sells or disposes of items without telling the police or after a false report, does not keep its register or makes false entries, does not hand in its stock when it stops being one, does not report or reports falsely on its stock, refuses or obstructs a showing of items, or does not destroy personal records. Where an employee or representative commits one of these offences, or disobeys an instruction, in the course of the business, the business is fined too. When such an occupant dies, is dissolved or merges away, those who must hand in its stock and do not face a civil fine (過料) of up to 200,000 yen.(Art. 42(1), Art. 43(1), Art. 44(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
This Act's penalties (Articles 41 to 44) do not punish a finder for not handing an item in; under this Act such a finder loses the reward, the costs and the chance to become owner (Article 34). Embezzling (横領) lost property, drifting property or another person's thing out of their possession is a crime under Article 254 of the Penal Code (刑法), punishable by imprisonment (拘禁刑) of up to one year or a fine of up to 100,000 yen or a petty fine (科料). Anyone punished for embezzling what they found or received loses the same rights under this Act.(Art. 41(1), Art. 42(1), Art. 43(1), Art. 44(1), Art. 34(1), Art. 34(1)(i), Penal Code Art. 254(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it connects to other laws

Cites this lawLawThis law cites it

0
Civil Code
11
0
Act on the Protection of Personal Information
1

It also names 5 laws not yet held here.

Where the translation comes from

The Ministry of Justice's translation is shown only where the Japanese it translates matches the law in force today. Everywhere else the English is a machine translation, marked on the paragraph itself.

Only the Japanese is the law, and no lawyer has reviewed the machine translation.

Sources

Everything this page rests on

e-Gov (Digital Agency)遺失物法 — the text in force from 2025-06-01Original
e-Gov (Digital Agency)遺失物法 — revision historyOriginal
Japanese Law Translation, Ministry of Justice遺失物法 — its English title as the Ministry of Justice's translation database lists itOriginal
Machine translation, not official
Written for this site with AIEnglish titles of amending laws, written for this site
Written for this site with AIDescriptions of each law, written for this site
Worked out by this site from e-Gov's text

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