Japanese Donates Millions To Local Schools, Then Disappears Without A Trace

Three schools in Nara City in Japan received a surprise from a mysterious older man on February 24th and gave them 10 million yen each, without giving his name.

Reports said that the mysterious old man was believed to be in his 70s, briefly spoke to school staff, saying, "Please use this for the children," before handing over plastic bags containing 30 million yen (US$94,000).

According to Sora News 24, staff tried to run after the older man, but they could not find him.

Municipal Saibi Elementary School, Kasuga Naka, and Ichijo High School were the three schools in Nara City reported donations from the man, as per Yomiuri Shimbun via Livedoor News on February 26th.

The City's board of education took the money as a donation and used it to fund schools' educational activities.

Reports said that no one knows in the community who the older man is, but this was not the first case of anonymous donations to schools made in the City.

Last December, an older man also donated 30 million yen in plastic bags to school staff for coronavirus prevention measures. With these similarities, the board of education speculates that the same man also made the latest donation.

While some netizens were charmed by the older man's generosity, others weren't ready to take it at face value:

"It's amazing, but the fact that he donated using plastic bags... is kind of scary."

"What a great old man. I'm not sure what his motives for doing it are, but I hope the money gets used in a way that benefits everyone."

"If he wanted to donate, he should have done using the formal procedure. He could just be doing this to avoid paying taxes."

"Give me some money next time!"

"Imagine being so rich that this is the kind of thing you can do for fun."