Although a law banning certain types of double bladed knives and daggers went into effect last year, Mainichi reports that thousands of daggers will apparently not be turned into police before the grace period expires:

A total of 2,457 recently banned daggers had been recovered in nationwide collection efforts as of May 4, according to National Police Agency figures.

However, the police agency believes some tens of thousands of the weapons remain in circulation, and is stepping up a campaign aimed at informing individuals and industry groups of the police’s collection efforts.

Possession of the double-edged weapons was made illegal under November 2008 revisions to the Firearms and Swords Control Law, made in the wake of the June 2008 knife attack on 17 people in Tokyo’s Akihabara district. The revisions to the law went into effect last January, and owners of the knives who do not dispose of them by July 4 will face up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.

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