I was in japan for a few months when I was in the marines. From what I can recall, japanese culture only likes to keep things around that serve a purpose. They don't really have antique shops like we do here. Once something has served it's purpose they tend to recycle it, from what I heard. However there are always those that can't throw things away, and I think that's what we are seeing now. Several old barbers probably had vast collections sitting in storage somewhere. This could all be wrong, but it kinda makes sense to me. I really wish I was into straight razors when I was there, I would have cleared out every store I found!!