Tens of thousands of syringes with capped needles drifted ashore Wednesday morning in the town of Monzen, Ishikawa Prefecture, town officials said.
A resident reported the finding to the town hall at around 9 a.m., they said.
The syringes landed between Monzen's Tsurugiji and Minazuki districts sometime between late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, they said.
The syringes are of three lengths -- 18 cm, 17 cm and 14 cm. They are all unused, have caps covering the needles and are in bags with foreign writing on them, the officials said.
A group from the local fishing cooperative is collecting the syringes.