I posted an essay in the last incarnation of this blog that concerned one of the saddest of all sad sacks that I came across while working for the police. This tale of woe started, as few do, when he decided to take the dog for a walk.
It was the early morning, the streets dark and quiet, and our protagonist was a few blocks from his house. Suddenly a black van, the lights off, screeched around the corner. The sliding door was open, and three trash bags flew out to land on the lawn. Then the van accelerated away while two police cars, lights and sirens going full bore, came around the same corner and set off in pursuit.
Our protagonist was understandably curious. What was in the bags? It looked like the guys in the van were trying to dump evidence before being apprehended, so what kind of criminals were they? Did the bags contain body parts left over from some serial killer's sick games? Maybe marijuana bales from low level drug dealers!
So he walked the dog over to the bags and opened one. It was chock full of cash!
He thought that he had hit the jackpot, and carried one of the 25 pound bags home with him. The next day he went on a glorious spending spree.
The money was funny. Counterfeit, dontchya know. He was found out when the salesman at the car dealership became suspicious about how some schmuck who couldn't make regular payments on his old used car would be able to suddenly waltz in and offer cash for some luxury model. The cops were called and the rest is history.
I'm mentioning this sordid example of how greed can cause the higher brain functions to shut down because of this news item. It seems that mysterious unmarked envelopes filled with cash have been appearing around Japan. One envelope with one million yen, about $10,000.00 USD, was left in the mailbox of a woman in the city of Kobe. Dozens of packages with money inside have been found in men's restrooms around the country.
The latest is an apartment building in Tokyo, where 18 envelopes were left in the tenant's mailboxes. Each envelope contained about $750.00 USD, and most of the tenants assumed that the cash was counterfeit. When they found out that it was the real deal, they became afraid that they would get in trouble if they kept the money. So they called the cops.
How very Japanese!