Saitama Prefectural Police on Thursday returned 5 million yen in cash to a 35-year-old man whose wife accidentally tossed it in the garbage.
The cash was found in the trash disposal area of a condominium here in the prefectural capital last month.
According to police, the man was hiding the cash in an envelope in a trash bag in his house. But his wife, not knowing what was inside, threw away the garbage bag on March 9.
"I had been moving the cash around and hiding it in various places so it couldn't be stolen by robbers," the man said.
On March 20, the man saw news reports that a sanitation worker had found the cash at a garbage facility. He filed a report with police within the day.
Police confirmed he was the owner from banking and other details on the envelope that the cash was in.