Hokkaido police are baffled. Since early April, more than 1,000 brand-new Chinese-made knives have been found abandoned all over Hokkaido, and no owners have come forward to claim them.

Police say the knives are wrapped in plastic cases and come in sets, complete with a cutting board and sharpener. Some sets contain four knives, others six, most of them similar products. They have been found in all conceivable places.

Some were discovered in parks in Hakodate, Otaru and other cities. In Sapporo and Tomakomai, they were found under the staircases of apartment buildings. In Muroran and Noboribetsu, they turned up near train stations.

Police are holding the knives as lost property but are at a loss over how to handle them, and they are worried some abandoned knives may end up in the wrong hands and be used as weapons.