A Very Sad Story to Tell :(

J

JohnR7

Joined
Oct 15, 1999
Messages
718
After searching the Internet and checking with the importer & wholesalers of Butterfly Knives, I have not been able to find a single Japan made Butterf knife. So I decided it was time to start writting letters to find out what was going on. The following is the response I got to the first letter I sent out:

Hi

If you're responding to my knifeforums.com post, butterfly production in
Japan was halted about five years ago, due to some bad press. A
butterfly knife played a prominent role in a Japanese TV drama, and some
teenagers did some stupid things including carrying them to school, even
attacking or killing people at school, causing some hysteria when a 13
year old boy stabbed his teacher seven times for scolding him for being
ten minutes late from the restroom, killing her.

It is still possible to buy butterfly knives here at specialized knife
shops or mail order. The minimum price is about 30 bucks American, even
for the crappy ones with "Ninja" or "Dragon" type slogans on the blade.
A new Benchmade is more than 200 bucks.

Eric Takabayashi
Fukuyama, Japan
 
I think the TV drama is called 'Wings' and I have been searchign for it.. well okay I have yet to get off my ass to rent it. japan is a very structured society and some of the child killers were pretty brutal, it is no surprise that Butterfly knives are not made there anymore. Yes another case of bad media.

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<A HREF="http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~soo/balisong/balisong.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~soo/balisong/balisong.html
</A> If you play with love you will be heartbroken; if you play with knives you will [bleed]


 
Japan is one of the only countries in the world that outlaws baseball bats anywhere other than ball fields. Outlaw one weapon and another takes its place. A rock worked real well for milleniums, what inanimate object are we going to blame next for the wrong doing of others..........
mad.gif
 
Thats interesting information. I always wondered if they were still making them over there. However there must still be hundreds of good quality Japanese made butterflys in the supply pipeline-just sitting in storage or in someones shop.
I also wonder about the thousands of manila folders that were seized by US Customs from the Taylors in 1986 while they fought this in court. Whatever happened to them?

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Tim

 
>> I also wonder about the thousands of manila folders that were seized by US Customs from the Taylors in 1986 while they fought this in court. Whatever happened to them?

Customs had to give them back to Taylor. I think he sold the Japan Butterfly's to Blue Ridge, because I remember buying Japan made Butterfly knives back then for about $10 or $12 wholesale. I had one with a real nice Jade wood handle on it, that I could not part with. But my son decided it was a throwing knife one day and messed it up a little bit. So I passed it onto someone who could restore it. Taylor's first court battle was a victory, and he won a restraining order on customs so they could not confiscate anymore butterfly knives. But when customs appealed the decision, the court half way overturned it to give them the power to confiscate whatever they wanted to again. Here is the link if you want to read up on it. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/wbardwel/public/nfalist/auto_knives/ Thanks, JohnR7 www.BalisongKnife.com
 
Nice post, Eric!

Susan, the drama was "Gift", and the actor to play the bali for 2 seconds or screen was Kimura Takuya, one of most popular stars.
For months after the scene every teenagers had a cheapy bali in their pockets (by mass media) to stab each other. Knife medias like mags, major manufacturors and some shameless dealers didn't do to protect balis but did the contrary. No ads, no topics about balis for about half a year, then Japanese bali died.

Recent fifty years, first were banned autos, then tantos, now balisongs. Very few people are conscious any type can be the next. A slow suicide IMO.

These two years favorite was large size cooking knife, "hocho" used to random murders, airplane hijacking and bus hijacking. Is it the next...


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(T_T) ...crying
\(^o^)/ ...cheerful
(ToT) ...crying
Mizutani Satoshi
 
Japanese culture when come to a stand still once someone is killed with a pair of quality chopsticks, those tools/weapons are just waiting to become a menace to society!

When will the goverments of th world finally come to the conclusion that it is the "people" not the objects commiting those crimes!

Jonathan

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Want to earn an extra income from home? Click here for FREE information! www.arriveat.com/morefreedom
 
Hey don't say it that loud, they'll ban PEOPLE!

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(T_T) ...crying
\(^o^)/ ...cheerful
(ToT) ...crying
Mizutani Satoshi
 
Really??!? Kimu-taku was the star in it? So I was wrong good thign I didnt rent it.. I will have to look for "Gift" sometime.. is the drama named "Gift" or somethign liek "omiyage/okurimono"
wink.gif
I could have sworn it was 'wings' oh well I am more of a sorimachi fan anyways
tongue.gif


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<A HREF="http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~soo/balisong/balisong.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~soo/balisong/balisong.html
</A> If you play with love you will be heartbroken; if you play with knives you will [bleed]


 
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