Video thanks for bus staff

When Cao Yan, a conductor on the No. 71 bus route started her shift on Saturday morning, she wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary, until a female passenger came to her with a backpack at Hongmei Road Station, seven stops after the bus had left Shenkun Road for the Bund.

The passenger said she picked up the backpack on the station platform and found it contained cash, credit cards and a laptop. 

“The passenger said the one who left the backpack was probably a Japanese,” said Cao. “For there was a Japanese driver’s license inside.”

Cao reported the case to the dispatch center and CCTV footage at Hongmei Road suggested a man, who appeared to be drunk, had arrived at the platform around 3am on Saturday. He could be seen leaning against a screen door and falling asleep.

Two hours later, he got up and left, leaving the backpack.

According to the driver’s license, the backpack belonged to Hiroki Shirokura. Bus staff called the police after he failed to return to the station to pick it up. 

The police passed the information through the city’s exit-entry administration bureau and the Japanese consul. Shirokura was finally found on Sunday afternoon and the backpack returned to its owner on Monday morning.

Shirokura said he was anxious as he had a plane to catch on Monday, but he couldn’t recall where he had left the backpack.

Before he left, Shirokura returned to the Hongmei Road station to record a video clip to thank the bus crew and the police.

“There were others who lost their stuff in China but failed to get them back,” he said in the video. “But the bus company here is so great and responsible. I really appreciate them.”