Japanese Get a Big Blast From Yankee Traditions

SAN FRANCISCO —  For $60, Japanese tourists can set aside their cameras and do something they regard as “very American”--blast away at targets with a huge Magnum pistol just like Dirty Harry, or an assault rifle just like Rambo.

For a few hours on a gun range across the bay from San Francisco, they fantasize their romantic images of the Old West and the hardware toted by American movie and television heroes.

“Oohs” and “aahs” are the reaction as tourists squeeze off rounds from .38-caliber police-type pistols or hear the sharp crack of an AR-15 assault rifle.

Vision of America

“People think America is guns,” said Masashi Takahashi, owner of Golden West Sports Tours.

Takahashi’s clients are escorted to the San Leandro range where they fire away with lethal weapons like John Wayne’s Western carbine or Agent 007’s Walther semi-automatic pistol.

Takahashi said the Japanese get a special thrill out of the experience because Japanese laws forbid most citizens from handling guns, let alone firing one.

The tourists, he said, “want to feel very American and feel America. It is the only American sport they can’t do in Japan.”

Wholesale Gunfire

Takahashi, who imports and sells shotguns, uses his federal gun importer’s license to buy guns and ammunition wholesale for his shooting tours.

Takahashi said he has been catering to the Japanese tourist’s image of the Old West since 1974. Earlier, he ran U.S. hunting tours for bear, deer or elk, but discovered that most people wanted just to fire at targets.

He said he added a crash course in shooting and gave tourists their choice of weapons from an arsenal of 200 high-quality guns from all around the world. His business now draws about 1,500 tourists a year, he says.