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Wednesday, 22nd February 2012
In General Japan News,
Chinese social media reunites travelling nurse with stolen bike
A Japanese travelling nurse has had his stolen bicycle returned to him thanks to the power of social media in China.
Keiichiro Kawahara spends his time cycling around the world volunteering as a nurse and had arrived in China on February 3rd to begin a blood donation awareness campaign, the Mainichi Daily reported.
The 27-year-old from the Nagano Prefecture was distraught when his 200,000 yen (£1,588) bike was stolen from a car park on February 17th while he was working in the Hubei province of China.
However, following a report by a local television station the news of the theft snowballed, leading to around 50,000 mentions on the Sina Weibo social network – China's version of Twitter.
Three days after the bike was stolen, a person from Wuhan contacted local authorities to say they had bought the bike, for the equivalent of 12,000 yen.
Reunited with his bike, Kawahara offered his thanks to all who helped.
"I am very grateful to all the people in Wuhan and the media," the news provider quoted him as saying.
In 2011, the Japanese bicycle parts maker Shimano saw net sales of its products increase by 3.8 per cent on the previous year to reach 221,770 million yen (£1.76 billion).
Written by Susan Ballion
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