German customs seized a US$1.2 million (NT$36 million) violin from a Japanese professional musician and are demanding she pay 380,000 euros (NT$14.3 million) to get it back, reports said on Wednesday.
Belgium-based Yuzuko Horigome was transiting through Frankfurt Airport last week after performing in Japan, the top-selling Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said.
When she tried to walk through the green gate for travelers arriving in the EU with nothing to declare, customs officers stopped her and said she needed to pay 190,000 euros (NT$7.14 million) in duty on her 1741 Guarnerius violin.
Photo: Lin Ya-ti, Taipei Times
照片：台北時報林亞蒂
On top of this were fines, taking the total cost to an eye-popping 380,000 euros, the Tokyo Shimbun said.
Customs confiscated the valuable fiddle because she could not provide the documents for her 1986 purchase, the Yomiuri said.
“The instrument is a tool for my work. For musicians, instruments are like parts of your bodies,” she told the Yomiuri.
Photo: Lin Ya-ti, Taipei Times
照片：台北時報林亞蒂
“I have used Frankfurt Airport many times and never had problems like this before. I don’t know why this happened.”
She has since submitted documents to prove her ownership of the violin, but negotiations have been difficult, the Asahi Shimbun said, quoting the musician.
Horigome, who has worked in Europe for three decades, was also contacting the governments of Japan and Belgium to see if they could help, the Tokyo Shimbun said.
A spokesman for the German authorities has suggested that the violin might be returned if it is regarded as necessary for her job, the Yomiuri said.
Guarnerius violins are considered among the world’s best, ranked alongside those made by Stradivarius and Amati.
Horigome, first prize winner at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1980, plays in cities around the world with top conductors and orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Berliner Philharmoniker.
(AFP)
報導週三指出，德國海關查扣一名日籍職業小提琴家一百二十萬美元（約新台幣三千六百萬元）的小提琴，並要求她要付出三十八萬歐元（約新台幣一千四百卅萬元）的罰金才可贖回。
《讀賣新聞》報導，旅居比利時的小提琴家堀米柚子在回日本表演後，上週在返歐途中，經由法蘭克福機場轉機。
當她抵達歐盟，試圖走過給無申報旅客通關的綠色通道時，海關人員將她攔下，並對她說她必須為其一七四一年瓜奈里小提琴，支付十九萬歐元（新台幣七百一十四萬元）的關稅。
《東京新聞》寫道，再加上罰金，要付出的總金額達到驚人的三十八萬歐元。
《讀賣新聞》報導，海關沒收這把價值連城的小提琴，是因為堀米柚子無法出示她一九八六年的購琴證明文件。
而堀米柚子向《讀賣新聞》表示：「該樂器是我謀生的工具。對於音樂家來說，樂器就像是身體的一部分。」
她說：「我之前多次過境法蘭克福機場，但從未遇過像這次的狀況。我也不知為何會發生此事。」
《朝日新聞》則引用堀米柚子的話說，她已於事後提交小提琴的所有權文件，但溝通上一直有困難。
據《東京新聞》報導，已在歐洲樂壇闖蕩三十年的堀米柚子，也已經與日本與比利時政府聯繫上，以期得到協助。
《讀賣新聞》說，德國相關單位發言人表示，若能證明這把小提琴對她工作是不可或缺的，他們就可能歸還此琴。
瓜奈里小提琴被視為世界之最，與史特拉底瓦里與阿瑪蒂齊名。
堀米柚子曾於一九八○年獲得伊莉莎白皇后大賽桂冠，演出足跡遍及世界許多城市，也與頂尖指揮家與倫敦交響樂團、紐約愛樂，以及柏林愛樂等樂團合作。
(法新社/翻譯：林亞蒂）
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