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        The following story was published late last year.  Japanese
officials believe the flow has increased since then, because an average gun
is now selling for about $600.

Japanese may not like Detroit wheels or California rice, but one American
import has found a niche among a choosy -- and criminal -- minority. 

Whether they're Colt, Ruger or Smith & Wesson, pistols smuggled in from the
United States are No. 1 among "yakuza" organized crime groups in this land
where civilian handgun possession is illegal. 

        A simple profit motive can drive the smugglers. A Smith & Wesson
..38-caliber revolver bought for $275 in the United States can be sold on
the Japanese black market for $4,800, U.S. Customs investigators say. 

        Last year, Japanese police seized 469 firearms that were brought in
from the United States. "It's impossible to stop the flow as long as the
guns are easily available in other countries," said Shigeru Kubota of the
National Police Agency's firearms control office. 

        Yakuza gunrunners concoct elaborate schemes to mine the rich vein
of firepower available in America. 

   In 1991, two smugglers from Osaka flew to Chicago and recruited a local
man to accompany them to a gun shop, where he signed for the purchase of
212 handguns. Avoiding airport metal detectors, the Japanese then took a
train to Los Angeles to ship the guns by sea to Japan, hidden among blue
jeans. 

   Federal agents spotted the big purchase in the dealer's paperwork and
broke up the scheme. 

        In other recent cases: A yakuza member traveled monthly to Oklahoma
and hired locals to buy guns; a Japanese arriving in Tokyo from Los Angeles
was stopped with 28 handguns in his luggage; a retired Japanese airline
pilot was arrested as an alleged yakuza gunrunner.

 
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