Buying a real sanshin! ...or not!

Sanshin

 Sooo, I've been wanting to buy the Okinawan instrument "Sanshin" for quite a while now.
It's like an older, cheaper version of the Shamisen and is traditionally made in snake skin. Of course, if you want to have one in snake skin the price will be double or more, but after seeing a snake skin sanshin in real life I was willing to pay more!
So I have been rummaging amazon for them and finally pinned it down to a few good, and cheap ones to choose from - only to find out that I might not even be able to bring it back to Sweden?!

I hadn't even thought about the fact that taking the skin from that snake might be illegal, atleast in the country you want to import it to. But then I read online about why some people were hesitant to buy Sanshin's instead of a Shamisen - because it might not even be allowed to bring it into the country!

That's just perfect, after all my searching and excitement and budgeting for this thing I probably can't even buy it. Though I am hoping, since it's Japan they know what they are doing here and they aren't using these illegal skins. Maybe then it will be allowed to bring into Sweden.
Anyway, if it turned out that they are not really allowed/shouldn't be using these snake skins then of course I shouldn't buy one. But if it is allowed and fine and not harming the snake population, I don't see why not. There are so many instruments using different types of animal skin, if you want a real high end Shamisen you usually buy it in catskin! Is catskin allowed to be brought into Sweden? o.0 (Not that I am planning to buy a Shamisen like that, lol. I could only afford one in plastic if even that).

Shamisen (though probly not catskin)

I sent a message asking about this on a site that knows about this type of stuff, but I am pretty sure they will give me a big fat no.
Buut, I haven't bought it yet so, I should be happy about that! But which one do I get now? The one with fake snakeskin or one with a dragon print or summin? Hmm...

Atleast now I know til next time, if I ever again find a cool instrument with some strange animal skin on it =P