The goodness of Japan

Well on the way home I kept telling myself to check for my umbrella that I left at the convenience store this morning. I did remember and low and behold it was still there. I have to admit that this is one of the amazing things about Japan. I've run into this a couple of times, once when I lost my drivers license it somehow showed up at the police station and they told me to make sure that I contacted the lady that picked it up and thanked her. The other time I left the church's computer on the train. I thought for sure that it was gone for good, but the station staff called ahead and were able to pull it off the train at the end of the line. I just had to go pick it up. Why is it that if the same thing happened in America you could pretty much say good by to your things, even if it was just my cheap umbrella, but here in Japan the chances of getting your things back are fairly good.