The engines from Japan that I have swapped were wonderfully new and nothing wrong with them. The engine swap thing, as far as I can figure, is a way to support the (japanese) domestic car industry by punishing the ownership of older cars and at the same time satisfying people in gov't that the new cars making up the bulk of the fleet help with smog since they are cleaner than well worn cars. Of course the cars they consider old really aren't by anybody else's standard.

It seems to be part of Japanese culture to always have the newest, smallest, 'bestest' thing.