The skinny on swords into and out of Japan

Greetings,

I'm a budoka: I do battodo, iaido, and related arts. I bring swords
into and out of Japan, and for the most part what people have said
about it is true.

1) You cannot bring non-Japanese "steel" swords into Japan. You can
get them into your luggage on your plane, but you will need to open it
up at customs. First, they will ask you want they are for. Next,
they will do the magnet test. If the magnet sticks, then there is
iron (assumption is steel, but we won't go into the metallurgy right
now) and the sword has to be verified (see below). If the magnet
doesn't stick, it is a "mogito" (literally a fake sword) and you
should be fine.

2) If there is iron/steel in the sword then you will need to justify
having it. There are several reasons you could bring it,
legitimately:
a) It is a traditional Japanese sword (Nihonto) and you are a
legitimate practitioner of a Japanese sword art or sword society.
They will want some kind of documentation as to its (and your)
legitimacy. Here's where you get your senior sword practitioners or
society members to vouch for you. Note: Just because it is a
Japanese sword doesn't mean it will be allowed in. Mumei gunto (war
swords with no signature) are likely to be stopped. Likewise, some
smiths have been accused of using unorthodox practices, and their
swords are questionable/rejected, now, when they are discovered. This
happened to my instructor when he went back for training.
b) You are bringing it in for work. If you are getting fittings
made or having someone polish the blade, you can often get the sword
through customs with help from the person doing the work. It is not
legal to actually use the sword in Japan, however, and if you aren't
there as a tourist I don't know that they will want you to keep the
sword.

If you bring a sword that doesn't meet their criteria, you could find
yourself in the position of either having it held at the airport until
you leave or having it confiscated. I can't tell you why the latter
would happen, but I wouldn't chance it, myself. I'd make sure that I
was in contact with a legitimate person in Japan who could tell me
whether or not I could bring the items in question with me or not.

Hope that helps.

-Josh