# やま、韓国で携帯を紛失する - Show: 英語で雑談！Kevin’s English Room Podcast - Published: 2026-10-01 - Canonical: https://podc.club/en/episode/1518322346_b9efda68fa97.html - Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/260e5c24/podcast/play/126336951/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-8-26%2F512052ba-f5b0-0a7a-6535-c826314e53f5.mp3 - Source: Edited from a machine transcript of the first 30 minutes of the episode. Not an official summary. On the first day of a business trip to Korea, Yama left his smartphone in a taxi. After tracking it via Google's Find My Device to a nearby police station, he and Kevin spent the next four to five hours navigating a language barrier, a malfunctioning translation app, and a surprisingly warm welcome from Korean police officers to get it back. ## What this episode answers ### Where did Yama lose his phone, and how did he realize it was gone? Yama left it in the taxi. He only realized it was missing at a station locker when he reached into his pocket to scan a QR code — he remembered having it before getting in the taxi, so he was almost certain that was where he had left it. ### How did Yama get his phone back after locating it with GPS? After getting Wi-Fi at the work venue, Yama used Google's Find My Device, which pinpointed the phone at a police station about ten minutes away. He and Kevin went there, showed his passport, and retrieved the phone — roughly four to five hours after it had gone missing. ### How did Yama and Kevin overcome the language barrier at the police station — and did the translation app Papago actually help? They prepared several Korean phrases in advance — such as 'I lost my smartphone' and 'black (fukuse)' — but Papago's voice-recognition mode failed entirely because the officers were too far from the microphone. What ultimately worked was showing the officers a screenshot of the GPS map on another device. ### How did the Korean police officers treat them? Three officers handled the case and were extremely friendly. While the paperwork was being processed, one officer kept the conversation going — talking about the large Korean community in Akasaka, Tokyo, and a shrine in Ueno that resembles Gyeongbokgung Palace. Kevin and Yama both said the warmth was far beyond what they would expect from a Japanese police station. ### What Korean food and street experiences did Yama enjoy on the evening of day one? Yama went to a Korean beef (hanu/韓牛) course-dinner recommended by an acquaintance — pricey, decent but not particularly surprising, though the staff conversation made it enjoyable. Afterward, at a Korean 7-Eleven, he spotted Korean-style onigiri and sandwiches, bought a tea with the kanji '男' on the packaging, and was told at the register '1+1 (one plus one)' — meaning he could pick a second drink for free, so he grabbed a corn tea. ## Article ## Yama Loses His Phone in a Taxi, Notices at a Station Locker On the very first day of a business trip to Korea, Yama left his smartphone in a taxi. He did not realize it until he tried to use a station locker: when he reached for his phone to scan the QR code needed to store his luggage, his pocket was empty. Because he clearly remembered having the phone before boarding the taxi, he was almost certain that was where he had left it. The ride had been booked through Uber, so he tried contacting the driver through the app. It was a weekend, though, and the support office was closed; for some reason, the driver himself was also unreachable. With no option beyond sending an in-app message and waiting, Yama and Kevin decided to press on with the day's work schedule. ## Google Find My Device Points to a Police Station Once Yama got on Wi-Fi at the venue, he ran Google's Find My Device. A single point appeared on the Korean map — a police station. The address looked unfamiliar at first, but he worked out it referred to the local district name. The station happened to be only about ten minutes from the studio, and someone had already handed the phone in within four to five hours of it going missing. Whether it was the taxi driver or someone else remains a mystery. ## Fighting the Language Barrier: Preparation and the Papago Miscalculation Before heading to the police station, the two prepared a handful of Korean phrases — 'I lost my smartphone,' 'black (fukuse),' and a few other words to describe the device. They also launched Papago, a popular translation app in Korea, in simultaneous Korean-Japanese interpretation mode, hoping to handle the conversation in real time. Inside the station, things did not go as planned. Three officers initially misunderstood the situation, assuming Yama simply did not know where his phone was, and immediately fired off a volley of fluent Korean questions. Even after Yama said '일본사람 (I'm Japanese),' the questions kept coming and the two were essentially lost. Papago was running, but the officers were too far from the microphone for the app to pick up any audio — the translation tool was completely useless. What finally worked was an analog solution: Yama showed the officers a screenshot of the GPS map. The moment they saw it, they understood the situation. Yama presented his passport and the phone was returned on the spot. ## An Unexpectedly Warm Welcome from the Officers While the paperwork was being completed, one of the officers struck up an enthusiastic conversation. He talked about the sizable Korean community in Akasaka, Tokyo, and mentioned that a shrine in Ueno looks just like Gyeongbokgung Palace — bringing up Japanese place names freely. Kevin and Yama caught maybe half of what he was saying, but they were struck by how much he seemed to enjoy the chat. A second officer sat quietly working through documents the whole time, which was why the conversation with the first one had room to breathe. Yama said he could not imagine being greeted so warmly if he walked into a police station in Japan, and Kevin agreed. Both felt the officers were friendly enough that being invited out for a meal would not have seemed out of place. It ended up being the defining event of day one. ## First Evening: Korean Beef Course and the '1+1' Convenience-Store Discovery With work and the police station mission both behind him, Yama headed to a Korean beef (hanu/韓牛) course dinner an acquaintance had recommended. The meal was on the pricier side, and while the food was good, his honest impression was that it was not particularly surprising. The staff were attentive right up to closing time, though, and kept the conversation going — making the overall experience a good one. Afterward, Yama stopped by a Korean 7-Eleven to browse Korean-style onigiri and sandwiches. A tea with the kanji '男' on the packaging caught his eye and he bought it — only to be told at the register '1+1 (one plus one),' meaning he could choose a second drink for free. He picked a corn tea. It was his first hands-on experience of Korea's classic buy-one-get-one-free convenience-store culture, and he recounted it with obvious delight. ## Takeaways - Someone handed Yama's lost phone in to a police station within four to five hours, a testament to the honesty and quick action of the people around him. - Papago's voice-recognition mode failed in the noisy station environment, but a simple GPS screenshot communicated everything instantly — a reminder that visual evidence can beat any translation app. - The Korean police officers were strikingly warmer and more talkative than either Yama or Kevin expected, making for a memorable cultural contrast with Japanese police stations.