Travels In Japan, With Knives

Minimal Luggage, Sharp-Edged Gifts, and a Bride's Secret Weapon

I was filling out my landing card before arriving at Narita in 2006 when I noticed an odd question: Are you carrying swords? Although I had no swords on me or in my luggage, it made me wonder. Did people routinely bring swords on their Japanese vacations? Were the Japanese authorities worried about an influx of inferior swords, as foreign swords surely would be? And why would anyone bother bringing a sword into the Land of Swords? This coals-to-Newcastle situation remained a mystery until a few years later, when I met a gaijin who had been a competitive sword fighter. She told me that when she returned to Japan for meets, she always brought her swords—which, of course, were Japanese-made.