Vietnamese expats return lost wallet as good deed

Tan said that he and his friends Nguyen Van Ly and Nguyen Phuc Huy saw the wallet at 4 a.m. on Nov. 12 near the intersection of Daimon Park and the Kamishin Plaza shopping complex. The wallet contained money and important personal documents. Tan and Ly decided to bike to the address written on the documents to return the wallet.

Japanese man upon having his lost wallet returned (wearing flower pants), thanks Nguyen Van Ly (wearing jeans) and Nguyen Van Tan for finding him and returning the personal item, Nov. 12, 2023. Screenshotted photo

When they arrived, they did not know where to look because the houses had no numbers. A local woman on the street then showed them the right place.

The owner of the wallet turned out to be a middle-aged Japanese man who said he was out drinking on the night of Nov. 11 and only realized he lost his wallet when Tan and Ly showed up to return it.

The man thanked the duo profusely and offered them money as thanks. His wife even gave them a pen and paper to write down their address so she could send a gift, but the Vietnamese men declined.

"Before we went to find the wallet’s owner, we agreed that we’d only return it and not accept any gifts no matter what," Tan said.

He added that he wanted to use the opportunity to show the international community the good nature of Vietnamese people.

"We frequently read negative articles about Vietnamese laborers in Japan, so we wanted to do something good to let people know that there are also Vietnamese people who are kind and always willing to help," Ly said.

Nguyen Van Ly (standing furthest left) and Nguyen Van Tan (next to him) and Nguyen Phuc Huy (standing furthest right) with their friends in Japan, October 2023. Photo courtesy of Ly

The story of the Vietnamese men finding the lost wallet and returning it to its owner received thousands of comments and likes on both Vietnamese and Japanese social media platforms.

Tan was born in the central province of Hue and moved to Japan in 2018 with his friends Ly and Huy, who are from Nghe An Province in north-central Vietnam.

All three are construction workers in Osaka. This was not the first time they found and returned a lost wallet.

"Whenever I find a lost item, I always find a way to return it to the owner. Sometimes I take it to the police or go to their address to return it directly, because if it was me who lost something important, I would want to find it as soon as possible," Tan said.