There is a lot of old-school gunmaking here, Japanese style. I was surprised at how much skilled hand labor goes into the making of every Citori. They start as “freshmen” spending a week at stations around the factory until they find the job they do best. Because it’s Japan, the break area has a koi pond.

Lots of natural light comes in through the windows. The main gun factory consists of several one story corrugated metal buildings like this one. Today it operates four plants in the area, and 60% of its production is auto parts. Behind us is our adult leader, Browning’s Scott Grange). They have been building guns since 1893, although for many years they were better known for harpoon guns, one of which you see here(those are gunwriters John Taylor, Mark Keefe, Nick Sisley and me.

The Miroku factory is on the outskirts of the city, amid rice fields. So I’m thinking Japan is a wonderful place to visit, but not a good place for a Gun Nut to live. I read about a knifing in the paper while I was there, and in the aftermath several uninvolved knife owners voluntary turned in their blades. Several kinds of knives are regulated, too. In all, there are about 170,000 gun owners in Japan. Miroku himself only owns one of the shotguns made in his factory. On the other hand, it’s very difficult to own a gun there. When you go through airline security in Japan, an attendant is waiting for you with a shoehorn on the other side of the scanner. Japan was remarkably clean and the people were very polite. I wrote a column about it for the magazine but I never shared any of my pictures.

Miroku is one of only two remaining gun makers in Japan (Howa, which makes mostly rifles, is the other). A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to travel to Kochi, Japan, to see the Miroku factory, where Japanese Brownings – including the Citori - and Miroku shotguns are made.

Miroku shotgun models