Boston’s FBI office on Friday handed over 22 artifacts to authorities in Okinawa eight decades after the items were stolen from the Japanese island at the end of World War II.
The FBI was tipped off to the looted historical pieces in January 2023 when the family of a recently deceased Massachusetts man reported finding the artifacts in his attic.
The decedent had served in World War II, although not in the Pacific theater, the FBI said.
After doing some research, the family members found that some scrolls had been entered into the U.S. National Stolen Art File 20 years prior, and they contacted the FBI.
Six scrolls dated to the 18th and 19th centuries, including a hand-drawn map of Okinawa, various pieces of pottery and ceramic ware, and a typed note that helped the FBI confirm the items were stolen at the end of the war.
Some of the pieces depicted members of the royal family of the Ryukyu Kingdom, an independent state on Okinawa and surrounding islands that was annexed into Japan in 1879.
“When taken together, they really represent a substantial piece of Okinawan history. … It’s really important for us as stewards of artifacts and cultural patrimony to make every effort that we can to see that these go back to the civilizations and the cultures in the countries where they belong,” FBI Special Agent Geoffrey Kelly said in a release from the agency.