Osaka ¨C In 2015, an unusual discovery was made in Malta¡¯s capital city, Valletta: forgotten samurai armor from Japan. This find kicked off a period of painstaking restoration resulting in the armor¡¯s shiny debut at the Expo 2025 in Osaka.
¡°We were restoring our Grand Master¡¯s Palace when our Heritage Malta (a national agency for museums and cultural heritage) colleagues uncovered this huge box,¡± Josephine Farrugia, deputy commissioner general of the Malta Pavilion, tells The Japan Times. ¡°Inside, they found armor that was completely different from anything else we had.¡±
At that point, the ambassador of Malta to Japan, Andre Spiteri, stepped in, recognizing the find as Japanese samurai armor. ¡°I had no idea that such armor was in Malta,¡± Spiteri says.
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