Is Japan the New Front in Italy’s Antiquities War?

American museum directors are always complaining that source countries uniquely target the United States in their antiquities repatriation efforts. (Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, another favorite target of source countries, might beg to differ.)
Now, a report in today’s Yomiuri Shimbun indicates that the Miho Museum in Japan may soon be targeted by Italy’s patrimony patriots, thanks to Polaroid photographs of alleged loot that were found by investigators in a Basel warehouse owned by Gianfranco Becchina. He is an Italian art dealer suspected of “buying items from looters and selling them to dealers around the world,” writes reporter Kazuki Matsuura.
During investigations into smuggling charges against convicted Italian antiquities dealer Giacomo Medici, “photos showing items that were displayed at the Miho Museum also were found,” according to Matsuura’s sources.
Misery loves company. Are American museum directors happy now?
Related: The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, may be asked to relinquish a large number of works, including 476 paintings, that were allegedly Nazi loot, according to Zvi Zinger, writing for Ynetnews, an Israeli news service. It seems that no museums are immune from such claims.