Ariel Winton-Jones, an American woman traveling in Japan, claims she misplaced her engagement ring last week in Tokyo and feared it was lost forever.
The ring was returned within two days, much to Winton-Jones’ surprise, thanks to strangers on social media, the kindness of the Japanese people, and the city’s one-of-a-kind lost and found system.
Winton-Jones, 29, told Insider on Tuesday that she and her husband, Kevin, live in Boston and are currently on a 12-day tour of Japan in honor of Kevin’s 30th birthday. On May 23, shortly after attending an early morning training session, they found the ring had vanished the day after they arrived in Tokyo.
Later that day, Winton-Jones asked on TikTok and Twitter if anyone had spotted the ring in Tokyo.
Winton-Jones went on to say that the ring was special since it featured the same diamond that her father used to propose to her mother. Her father died unexpectedly three months before Winton-Jones’ wedding in October 2021.
Winton-Jones told Insider that after realizing she’d lost it, she felt “paralyzed and numb,” comparing the emotion to “the early days of grief.”
«I couldn’t get out of it,» she admitted. «It sucked since it was by far the most meaningful tangible object I’d left behind from him.»
According to Winton-Jones, she and Kevin swiftly retraced their steps and inquired of personnel at surrounding stores, railway stations, and the hotel where they were staying if they had seen the ring. They also distributed pamphlets depicting the ring.
When they learned that no one had found it, Winton-Jones decided to make an appeal on TikTok, despite the fact that she had never uploaded anything on the platform before.
«I watched TikTok videos where people said, ‘I met this person; help me find him.’» Maybe I can do the same with my ring. «It looked silly because I don’t have a TikTok following,» she added.
She stated she awoke the next morning to several online comments encouraging her to keep hunting for the ring, while others informed her about Tokyo’s unique lost and found system and urged her to file a lost item report.
People who lose personal items are urged to fill out a lost property form and bring it to a police station or do it online, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s website. According to the website, if an item is discovered, the person who listed it will be alerted using the details they provided in the original form, or they can check online using the police’s official database.
Two days after the ring went stolen, the couple received a call at their hotel informing them that the ring had been turned into a police station after being located at Tokyo Station.
According to Winton-Jones, the police were able to identify the discovered ring using the information she supplied in the lost property report as well as the photo of the ring on the flyer.
«A lot of Japanese people have commented on my Twitter post, saying they are taught from a young age to bring items to the police, which I don’t think is a thing in the States,» Winton-Jones said, adding that if she had lost the ring in the US, she wouldn’t have expected to ever get it back.
«Is that a diamond ring?» «They’d just take it home and sell it,» she explained.
In addition to touring, Winton-Jones said she is now working on promoting the Gregory S. Winton, Esq. Scholarship, which is named after her father, a pilot and flight instructor.