ainternational

Folks,

Seeking your advice on where to buy a katana in central Tokyo. I'll be staying at the GHT, but am fine venturing pretty much anywhere in the city. I've read quite a few articles online citing everything from cheap toys to true katanas ranging into the tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars - needless to say, I'm unsure of exactly what I'll find in Tokyo and I speak little to no Japanese.

What I'm looking for is something to display in an office, on a stand with a scabbard. I'd like it to be 'real' in that it should be made of hardened forged (cold?) steel, extremely sharp (say, capable of cutting through bamboo with a solid swing) and something that would perhaps be at the lower end of 'legitimate'. Budgeting around $500 to $2.5K USD.

Does anyone have any experience, store or other recommendations or thoughts on this? Other than the one whereby I'll have to forgo my personal ban on carry on luggage (!) and check this bad boy on the way home to SFO. Doh!

Thanks...

Braindrain

You're probably going to find the souvenir katanas. They can come with stands (with quality to varying degrees) but I highly doubt you're going to be able to bring a real, sharpened one through Customs. Real and unsharpened, perhaps. Better to check with your local Customs office on that one since, if it were me, I'd hate to lose my Nexus/Global Entry over that.

ainternational

Hoping to find more than just souvenirs if possible. Agreed, it's the judgment of the quality and value which concerns me.

Regarding US Customs, you inspired me to give SFO Customs a call this morning. They confirmed that Global Entry (which I am) and all other travelers are of course subject to the same rules and restrictions, although I must admit that I've never seen a GE member stopped in customs for a secondary inspection. Knock on wood (or steel).

Anyhow, they referred me to their website (naturally), which amazingly had a FAQ entry for pretty much this question:

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/det...d/329/kw/sword

The short answer is, the airline decides if you can bring it in your checked luggage or not, but US Customs doesn't prohibit it. They also advise checking with local law enforcement on the legality of having one in your home. Fun!

jib71

I have a feeling that $2,500 won't buy much. With that money and an interest in swords, I might be tempted to get some sword guards. Probably safer in an office environment too...

Among foreigners, i guess the best known store is Japan Sword, near the Okura Hotel:
http://www.japansword.co.jp/

Some other stores are listed here:
http://gavinhougham.com/sights.html

There used to be a Japanese sword shop just north of Kudanshita station. Not sure if it's there any more.

ainternational

$2,500 won't buy much? Crap... hmm... will need to consider a larger investment perhaps. I'm not sure what sword guards are but I'll check it out. Thanks for the suggestion.

I did see Japan Sword in my browsing last weekend. Thanks for the links. Wonder if these folks speak English. Not that it'd help me necessarily make heads or tails out of everything.

I'll have to take a pic of whatever I end up buying and post it here....

Condition One

If you go to the Japanese Sword Museum, there are a lot of small shops in the area that sell what you're looking for. I wandered into many of the shops, and found it quite fascinating.

jib71

If you're not an aficionado, spending more might be pointless. Would you spend more than that on a painting if you knew very little about art?

ainternational

Fair point. Ironically, I'd probably spend a lot more on a painting I didn't know about than a sword. Mainly because I may be able to find more beauty and benefit from a painting. But all in all, I guess I'd consider either in the category of art since I intend to display the katana.

What we spend is all relative to other factors in our life of course as well. I just want to ensure that I'm not paying $2,500 for something worth $50!

RichardInSF

If you find one, you don't expect to take it back with you on your flight, even as checked baggage. I bought one of the totally fake, dull ones because one of my kids really wanted it. When we carried it back through the incoming security check at NRT, we were stopped and the folks unwrapped it totally to check it, even though it had a "certificate" claiming it was fake. Only when they saw that it was dull for themselves would they let us pass (after carefully re-wrapping it for us, of course, this is still Japan). It's the only time I've ever had anything inspected at this checkpoint.

Braindrain

That was my point in my original post. Once it's sharpened, it pretty much becomes a prohibited weapon, in most countries.

jib71

In that case, I recommend spending $50.

ainternational

Wow, very surprised by this. I guess US Customs has "no issue" but the Japanese government isn't excited about a sharpened blade being on board.

ainternational

Well, courtesy some trusted souls in Tokyo as well as a lot of reading, I've come up with the following information. Perhaps helpful for those future FT readers who are interested in buying katana...

So my sources tell me that traditional, real Katana generally start at around 600,000 JPY, at least according to the shops I will list below. "Small Katana" or Tanken evidently are around 300K JPY. I need to do some more research as to exactly what a Tanken is. I'm guessing: shorter.

Now on the replica side, seems the range is around 20K to 100K JPY for mainstream items. Stands around 20K JPY, but quite variable +/- 50% based on various designs and materials used.

Here's the killer. I understand that per the Japanese government, to take a real Katana overseers officially, one must procure an Export Authorization Form which will be completed in part by the store you purchase from, assuming they have the forms on hand. It takes 2-3 weeks to get approval from the government and then one needs to transport the Katana within 30 days. This says nothing about the airline or airport security allowing you to bring it on a plane, but evidently clears it via outbound customs for at least shipping via post overseas.

Here are the shops I plan to visit:

*Nihon Token (日本刀剣）
　03-3434-4321　3-8-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku

*Token Shibata （刀剣柴田）
　03-3573-2801 IMC Kyobashi Bldg. 5-6-8 Ginza, Chuo-ku

*Ginza Choshuya (銀座長州屋）
　03-3541-8371 3-10-4 Ginza, Chuo-ku

The first one has English speaking staff, the others not so much.

So at this point, it looks like I'm in the replica market since dumping $7-8K USD isn't exactly on my priority list, for this item at least. I wonder if the replicas are every sharpened. Anyhow, will report back with what I find in a few weeks. Thoughts / comments welcome.

Braindrain

The replicas I've seen are not sharpened. What you do with it when you get home is up to you.

RichardInSF

Being on board isn't the concern, I think. They don't want it in the airport. This whole business of security when entering the airport is left over from some farmers who didn't want their land taken when NRT was being built, something like 25+ years ago. It survives, unnecessarily, to this day -- and isn't done at either HND or KIX AFAIK (as well as probably not at any other Japanese airport either, I just haven't been to any others). Maybe someone else can confirm that (or confirm that my memory is faulty)?