Japanese Model 38 rifles in Finland

I was contacted by Mr. Risto Suikkari who is a collector of Japanese M-38 rifles in Finland.

He has asked me some questions about inspection markings of a barrel and a stock of a gun.
Usually, there is just one character on them and it means the one character from an inspector's
family name.
He asked about several Kanji characters and one of them is "Mura".

He asked again "Was he related Colonel Murata?"
No, the term was different, Colonel Murata was active in 1870-80's. M-38 was developed by Colonel Nambu in 1906.
"Mura" means "village" in Kanji and are very common. There are many "Mura"s in Japanese family names.

Now, my turn to ask him. Why are there Japanese rifles in Finland?
He wrote me, when Russians withdrew the country in 1917、they left 33000 M-38 in Finland.

Japanese exported to Russia after Russo Japanese War to during WWI, about 600000 M-30 and M-38 rifles. The guns in Finland are some portion of them.

Please refer http://www.japaneseweapons.com or http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/japaneseweapons