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Investigation of items that were stolen during the Okinawa battle began after family discovered them in late father’s belongings
The FBI has returned 22 centuries-old artifacts to Okinawa, Japan, after a family discovered them in their late father’s attic in Massachusetts.
Agents with the FBI’s Boston division on Friday announced that the return of the looted items followed a lengthy investigation that began when they received a call from a family who came across the items while sorting through their dead dad’s belongings.
The father was a second world war veteran but had not served in the Pacific theater, according to the FBI.
Art crime coordinator Geoffrey Kelly of the FBI’s Boston field office said the man’s children nonetheless then “came across some [of] what appeared to be very valuable Asian art”.
“There were some scrolls, there were some pottery pieces, there was an ancient map. They looked old and valuable. And because of this, they did a little research and they determined that at least the scrolls had been entered about 20 years ago in the FBI’s National Stolen Art File,” Kelly said.
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This has taken me down a rabbit hole, but I didn’t realize that, starting in the 16th century, Okinawa was a vassal state of Japan (and also sort of China at the same time) with a great degree of autonomy until the 1870s, when it was officially annexed by Japan, which makes me wonder how many of these are from pre-Meiji and how many from post-Meiji. All the details I can get, even from the FBI press release, just says 18th and 19th century, so it’s probably mostly, if not entirely, during their period of semi-autonomy.
in the 16th century, Okinawa was a vassal state of Japan (and also sort of China at the same time)
Ahh, everyone in East Asia’s favorite time honored tradition… avoiding becoming a vassal state of China or post Meiji restoration Japan. It’s a game everyone plays and a game everyone loses, especially China and Japan!
Damn, I was hoping this included the Honjo Masamune.
Mmm, I figure that one was actually destroyed.
Or is hanging on some billionaire/trillionaire’s wall somewhere, never to be seen by the public.
Maybe but I don’t think so. It would open an interesting legal question though, who would actually have right to it. America or Japan.
Had not served in the pacific theater
Ahhhhh, does make one wonder how the hell he even ended up with that shit if not through taking it during combat
This is probably my wildest take, but I don’t particularly give a shit about artifacts that got looted from Imperial Japan any more than I care about artifacts looted from Nazi Germany.
But maybe that’s not fair, or should be reserved for “artifacts” that are war trophies from military units, not random cultural pieces from before the war.
After all, I’m sure modern Japan has returned all the artifacts their ancestors stole from the countries invaded during WW2.
Right?
