Police Raid Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords

Japanese police raided the headquarters of the Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords [Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai (NBTHK)] and several related offices yesterday, seizing about 400 swords that had not been properly registered:

The society voluntarily submitted the swords, excluding severely damaged ones, after finding 592 mostly rusty swords without registration cards in February and March 2009. The society, under control of the Cultural Affairs Agency, was created in 1948 to preserve Japanese swords as cultural properties after Allied Occupation forces confiscated swords following the end of World War II. It appraises swords, gives guidance on traditional sword-making and runs a sword museum.

Under the Sword and Firearm Control Law, owners are required to have their swords registered as art objects at prefectural boards of education.

The museum operated by the society was also closed for the time being. It is a popular destination for foreign tourists, and as you can see in the news report from ATV, a few were very disappointed to show up at the museum and be told they could not enter.

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Pozo

Rather strange that the place was ‘raided’. In my opinion they should just have called the owner, give him the registration forms, tell them ‘bad boy, register the swords on time from now on!’ and let the museum just continue it’s business. It’s not like any harm was done or could have been done.

If they had been firearms, ok, but those swords are about as dangerous as a lead pipe or a sickle – which you can just buy in a store and start hitting people with.
Rob A

“The society, under control of the Cultural Affairs Agency…”

Is the Cultural Affairs Agency a government organization? If it is, this seems incredibly odd to me, with one part of the government raiding an agent of another part of the government.

Sometimes I wonder why ‘raids’ and police are involved in what can generally be handled with a couple phone calls.

Dave

Maybe they were bored and had nothing better to do? I dunno, lol, just guessing

Peter

All the weapon bans going on are really just plays on political power, catering on people’s fear of anything ‘scary’; a politician can do this and just say “Oh look I took these 500 man killing swords off the streets” without giving any real information about it.
grumpyoldguy

Interesting “raid” . More like political grandstanding to these old eyes. Further – those are “document boxes”, not one of them is big enough to hold anything longer than a tanto!
This leads one to ask if this is a coverup for confiscation of documents & records, and for what purpose….

Police Raid Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords

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