Japanese contacts told him that the book had appeared in the old book markets there, but its price of tens of thousands of yen put it out of Wu's reach.
由於與日本的淵源，他首先致函曾任職過的京都東方文化研究所，問及日本可有此書的下落。所獲得的回音是，這本書的確出現在東京古書市場，但是索價日幣數萬之高，衡量自己當時的經濟能力，吳守禮只有「望洋興嘆」。