I'm not a fan at all of Katana swords, or anything else Japanese.

But I am going to Japan and the dollar is stronger against the Yen than at any other time in the past 10 years.

Are they worth collecting from a purely investment perspective?

Right now I wish I was a nihonto seller... :lol:

I'm having a hard time thinking of a better way to waste money than to buy something you don't care about for speculative purposes. But it's your money. Inflation will probably be the only way you make money on it, if you don't speak the language or know anything about the works to judge an acceptable buy, from any time period or style. As with most artistic collecting endeavors, the fortunes are made on the uninformed, rather than by the uninformed.

If you happen to see something that changes your mind and creates an interest, I would certainly recommend that. There's plenty of art and craft within Japan worthy of study and, potentially, purchase.

I was under the impression that you couldn't take nihonto out of japan. Was I mis-informed?

No you can export, or have them exported for you, if they are registered. With one important class excepted: http://www.jssus.org/nkp/japanese_sword_laws.html

There's no reason you can't pick one up if it happens to catch your eye, but a modern nihonto isn't going to increase in value appreciably for some time if you're looking at it from an investment angle. If you're looking at it from an 'user' angle, a Chinese katana from a good forge will do just fine and probably cost far less.

I would strongly recommend reading up a little on the subject to see if they arouse your interest in any significant way. If not, then you don't have to worry about it :)

I might recommend picking up a few little knives or kitchen knives though, because Japan does make some quite excellent blades... and less paperwork if they aren't swords to boot!

I would recommend getting a tsuba or other similar small object, it could be a memory of your trip at the same time.

If you don't like Japanese swords or know about Japanese swords I would recommend passing on buying them. There is also the mandatory de-registration process that takes a lot of time.

In reality you won't be able to make huge profit with your purchase as you'd purchase your sword most likely from a dealer. Buying is easy selling is hard. You can see pretty good deals if you know what to look for. That is the main thing, it'll take several years until you start to understand the market. If you don't have interest in them, it'll be very hard to make good buys.

If you decide to buy something, my advice will be following. Be prepared to invest a minimum of 3000$'s get something with Hozon papers. If you don't know much about Japanese swords, then it's best to buy decent quality items with NBTHK attribution papers.

Thanks all for the information

Think I'll buy a musical instrument instead