Get your ticket to GaijinPot Expo 2024
Within the world of Harry Potter, Gryffindor is supposed to be the heroes. Sure, the Hufflepuff kids play nicely with others, but they aren’t known as a house of action. Ravenclaw is smart, but being clever doesn’t necessarily make you good. And Slytherin? Setting aside the question of what the expected benefits were for a school creating a permanent club for evil teenagers, they’re not known for their righteous valor.
So it regularly falls to Gryffindor to answer the call to become heroes…which makes it all the more ironic that, in Japan, possessing a symbol of loyalty the house may now make you a criminal.
Warner Bros Studio Tour Tokyo – The Making of Harry Potter opened in the summer of last year in Tokyo’s Nerima Ward. A sort of combination theme park/museum/photo spot, the facility features recreations of settings seen in the Harry Potter film series, along with displays of costumes and props used in the series. Naturally, there’s a gift shop too, and among the items it’s offered is a full-size Sword of Godric Gryffindor.
Priced at 30,000 yen, the stainless-steel replica of the sword wielded by Gryffindor’s founder is 86 centimeters in length. Unfortunately, the size and design of this very big sword for very big Harry Potter fans is causing it to be recalled. The Warner Bros Studio Tour Tokyo management was recently contacted by the police, who informed them that the Sword of Godric Gryffindor is, in the eyes of the law, a “sword,” and so it’s illegal for civilians to possess.
Japan’s Firearm and Sword Possession Control Law (also sometimes called the Firearm and Sword Control Law), dictates various criteria as to what distinguishes a sword from practical-use bladed tools, such as cooking knives. Criteria such as length, material, and sharpness are taken into consideration, and while the Sword of Godric Gryffindor does not have sharpened edges, apparently the tip of the blade is sharp enough for it to be judged a sword by the police, and it thus would require a special permit to own.
It’s possible that Warner Bros Studio Tour Tokyo didn’t bother to check the Sword of Godric Gryffindor against the Firearm and Sword Possession Control Law standards, figuring that because it’s sold attached to a wooden backing, it would be treated as a piece of hanging wall art.
The Sword of Godric Gryffindor was offered for sale between March of 2023 and April of 2024, during which 351 were purchased, and they’re now being recalled. The Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo has added a page to its official website here with further information about how to turn in the sword and receive a refund. Visitors to Japan from overseas who’ve already taken their Sword of Godric Gryffindor back to their home country are presumably in the clear, but a number of the swords are currently available through second-hand sales sites in Japan, which domestic shoppers will likely want to avoid.
Source: Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo, NHK via Otakomu
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
-- Harry Potter walk-through museum is now open in Tokyo, and here’s what you can see there【Photos】
-- Two Tokyo train stations getting Harry Potter-style makeovers
-- Brand-new all-Harry Potter theme park could be opening in Tokyo
- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2024/11/28/possessing-harry-potters-sword-of-godric-gryffindor-is-now-illegal-in-japan/
8 Comments
Login to comment
Jay
Leave it to the GOVERNMENT to tackle the real threats to society by outlawing a Harry Potter sword - because apparently magical weapons are a bigger menace than actual crime or the tanking birthrate! What's next, banning Quidditch brooms for "air traffic violations"?
This is just government overreach at its most laughable, targeting fictional props while ignoring real issues. Maybe they think censorship spells work better than actual common sense.
kurisupisu
Good old Japan where following the rules has to be the overarching precedent and damn commonsense.
Hawk
Good. Harry Potter related sword crime is out of control.
sakurasuki
If only it's not sharp enough and make it blunt.
virusrex
How many hundreds of people do you imagine were diverted from "bigger menaces" to check if a sword is pointy or not? The laws are clear and it makes no sense to make an exception that can later be abused, probably so you can then complain about the government doing nothing in an article about a child's death by a prop sword that was actually sharp.
OssanAmerica
Nothing lacking in common sense in prohibiting the sale of a sword (Harry Potter or otherwise) that violates the Firearm and Sword Law.
However, Marketing should have done their homework. In Japan unsharpened swords called 居合刀 are used for both practice and display, and they are exempt from the legal restriction. However, they are made with zinc-aluminum alloy blades and can not be sharpened. Any stainless steel blade can be sharpened. In addition it is a double edged design which is banned in Japan. Even if unsharpened, the lengthy steel blade with the point can indeed be used as a weapon.
Jay
Thanks for that, because nothing says "authority on swords" like someone who works for a company that can't even deliver a simple jab without a laundry list of side effects.
No one's asking for an exemption on an Excalibur, just a shred of common sense. But hey, I get it: you’d rather blame a hypothetical tragedy involving a prop sword than admit governments love to micromanage harmless hobbies while letting the real criminals run wild.
Bruce Pennyworth
a subdued society. This is why Americans will never let them take guns away. The government is not your daddy
virusrex
So, when valid reasons that disqualify your complain your response is to making completely imaginary scenarios in your head about other people and use them as counter arguments? that makse no sense, this not only proves you are exaggerating, but also that you are being irrational about it.
Unless you can bring proof of my identity and who I work for, your comment infringes on the rules of the site you said you would keep in order to comment.
Yes you are, the law is clear and the prop breaks it, common sense would mean the police contact the sellers and let them know this, exactly what it happened. What breaks completely common sense is to pretend "bigger menaces" are now ruining the country because someone lost 30 minutes in checking a sword, making a report and phoning an amusement park. Applying the laws are not "micromanaging" as you misrepresent in your invalid criticism.