Japan: Cash gifts appear in dozens of mailboxes By News from Elsewhere...

...as found by BBC Monitoring Published duration 25 March 2014

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Dozens of people in two Japanese cities have been surprised to find unexplained cash and gift vouchers in their mailboxes, reports say.

On 20-21 March, a total of 760,000 yen ($7,437, £4,511) was deposited in the letter boxes of 30 households at an apartment complex in Ikoma, 380km (236 miles) south-west of Tokyo. The largest single bundle reported so far is worth 137,000 yen ($1,340), the Mainichi newspaper says

Some people found coins wrapped in flyers in their parcels, while other residents received gift vouchers. But Ikoma police say more than half of recipients refused to accept the mystery presents, with some of them saying the gesture was "creepy".

There is no indication of who left them, and police are treating the cash as lost-and-found items. Authorities are checking CCTV footage and the voucher serial numbers in an effort to find out where they came from.

About 10 days earlier another 30 households were targeted with cash parcels - this time in Kawasaki, a city just south of Tokyo.