Student Leaves CSUN After Dispute Over Loss of Property : Summer school: The visitor from Japan asked to be reimbursed $1,400 after custodians mistakenly carted off his possessions. The university offered $200.

The upside, as they might say in clipped Hollywoodese, is that Yusuke Goto now has some great material for the movie script he came to America to learn how to write.

It would be one of those bittersweet comedies in which gritty, urban America conspires against an innocent outsider, leaving him breathless and broke by the time the credits start rolling. And it would have this flaky plot twist in which the poor guy hides his passport in a box of cereal, which is thrown out by custodians along with everything else he owns.

The downside is that Goto has been playing the real-life role of the victim, and he’s not laughing about it.

“California doesn’t like me,” the 20-year-old Cal State Northridge student said Friday as he prepared to leave for Colorado and a new campus, which he hoped would be friendlier.

Part of the bad taste in his mouth stems from a disagreement between Goto and the university, whose custodians mistakenly threw out his worldly goods. Goto asked for $1,400, but the campus housing office offered $200.

“Of course, of course,” he replied when asked if he is angry. “I don’t like Cal State Northridge.”

Campus officials say they are sympathetic but feel Goto is asking for too much, citing his bill for a $5 toothbrush.

Goto, a frequently smiling young man whose fly-away hair was squashed under a cap reading “No Fear,” came to California three months ago as an English as a Second Language student. The son of furniture store owners in Sapporo wanted to learn how to write movie scripts like those directed by his heroes, Frank Capra and Federico Fellini.

His two brothers, he said, have no interest in America. But he wanted to come, he said, because “Japan is too peaceful.”

If he wanted action, he found it. When he arrived in late May, Los Angeles was still reeling from the riots.

After his three-month summer school course at Cal State Northridge, Goto planned to transfer to another college in California to continue his English studies. But, he said, because of confusion over where he was living, his mail was sent to the wrong address on campus and he missed the application deadline for every school except little Lamar Community College in Colorado.

Where? Yes, Lamar. He doesn’t know much of anything about it either, has never been there or even close. He thinks it snows there. All he does know is that it is 117 miles from Pueblo and the picture on the cover of the campus guide shows a bunch of friendly, smiling faces.

He leaves next week.

The mail mix-up was nothing compared to what happened on Aug. 10, when the CSUN custodians came in and cleaned out the small, campus-owned apartment in University Park that he had been sharing with three other students. They bagged up clothes and other belongings and put them in storage.

Some things, such as a half-eaten box of corn flakes, the custodians just threw away.

“I don’t know how it happened,” said Jeannette Bitz, assistant resident director for the summer school program. “If they would have come to me they would have found the room was not empty.”

The custodians may not have realized the room was still occupied because foreign students occasionally leave belongings behind. Goto’s room, say his friends, looks a bit abandoned anyway with clothing and books scattered around the floor. “It’s a typical boy’s room,” said Sean Flynn, a friend who helped Goto press his case with the university.

When he returned and found his room spotless, but empty, Goto panicked. Not only were his clothes gone, but his passport, his lifeline in America, was missing.

He had put it in the corn flakes, he said, “just to hide it.” He was worried about urban thieves and was trying to be extra careful.

That night, Goto went dumpster diving with Flynn and eventually found the corn flakes and his red passport in its plastic cover. He now keeps it in his desk.

In the ensuing days, he retrieved more of his belongings from storage.

But some things, a small stereo and a watch he valued at $300, are still missing. He presented a claim for $1,400, but the housing officials said that was too much. “The pricing was relatively random,” said Jeff Ederer, coordinator of residential life.

He mentioned the $5 toothbrush.

Asked if he thought Goto was inflating values, Ederer said, “I don’t want to answer that.” Flynn said there may have been some inflation in the bill, but explained that it is based on differing exchange rates for American dollars and Japanese yen. “Prices in Japan are several times what they are here,” he said.

As for the $300 watch that never turned up, Ederer said he does not think his custodial crew would steal anything.

“They would not risk losing their jobs,” he said. “There have never been any reports of theft.”

Goto finally signed an agreement late last week accepting the $200 offer. He said he doesn’t have time to continue fighting for his money.

But Flynn said that may not be the end of it, adding that this incident could harm CSUN’s image in Japan. “This will get around back in Japan,” said Flynn, who is half Japanese. “This program has been a great revenue builder for CSUN.”

Mayumi Nagai, special programs coordinator for the ESL program, said there are 200 to 300 Japanese ESL students. As to whether the incident will scar the university, she said, it depends on Goto.

“He might write letters to newspapers. Then it might be a big issue.”

Goto made no such threats. He is looking ahead.

“He’s just hoping for a better life in Colorado,” said Flynn.