OSAKA -- Customs officers at Japan's ports and airports prevented about 65,000 fake World Cup items from entering the country, according to the Finance Ministry.
The customs office at Kansai airport in Osaka Prefecture showed the media about 100 of the confiscated items, including shirts and caps based on Japan's national soccer team, on Wednesday.
Customs officials began seizing the merchandise last September and said the goods will be incinerated.
The roughly 65,000 items seized as of June 20 include about 24,000 badges, 17,000 flags, towels and other textiles, and about 14,000 counterfeit jerseys of the 32 teams that took part in the tournament.
Many of the items were loaded in Taiwan and the Philippines and seized at Narita airport or Tokyo port.