Return of Japan’s ‘culturally significant’ treasures to Okinawa from US sparks joy
- The treasures were supposedly looted by US troops during the Battle of Okinawa in WWII and found in an attic in Massachusetts
- Family members of a veteran US soldier have discovered that the treasures were in an FBI file and contacted the agency for their return
“It is a great joy for the people of the prefecture to have this Okinawan treasure back, allowing us to directly connect with the days of the Ryukyuan kingdom,” said Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki after the artefacts were handed over last week.
The 22 artefacts – including six painted scrolls from the 18th and 19th centuries depicting kings of the Ryukyu Kingdom, ceramics, a teapot and a hand-drawn and annotated map of the Okinawan islands – were discovered by family members of a former WWII soldier as they cleared his home after his death last year.
Mystery still surrounds how the veteran acquired the items as he never served in the Pacific theatre during the conflict.
The family – who has asked not to be identified - researched online and discovered that the items were in a Federal Bureau of Investigation file for stolen art, at which point they contacted the FBI’s Boston office.
“They came across what appeared to be very valuable Asian art,” FBI Special Agent Geoffrey Kelly, coordinator for art theft cases in the Boston office, said in an interview posted on the agency’s website.