A friend of mine recounts how in 1988 he flew home from Japan with a high quality katana as carry-on. Wrapped in a beach towel.
Remember there was a time before 2001 when Americans and everyone else flew differently, and there may be a number of katanas laying around from parents who traveled abroad and bought souvenirs and then tossed them in the attic without thinking.
Even in a Japanese setting, I didn’t know you could just buy a katana out of nowhere and freely carry it around.
There were knife and souvenir shops in Spain that sold katanas. Don’t think they were sharp but I always wanted to have one when we went there on vacation. But they were too expensive. But we did get some shuriken, nunchakus (I got some padded ones because I was the younger child) and a butterfly knife.
It has to be an authentic samurai sword since they’re kid of a national treasure. If not, there’s specific rules about transporting it to and from your dojo and stuff.
Source: got my shit help up in Japanese customs when I had a very NOT ahthentic katana in my household goods. Went 3 months without my stuff
