(Pleased to meet you all. What a forum of delights!) Japanese knives: I use a *bunka-bocho* for most cooking jobs, i.e. the typical multi-purpose knife with a 6-7 cm (2.5"?) wide blade, pointed at the tip. In Tokyo, you'd buy first-class knives in Kappabashi (near Ueno station), an area where the pros buy their kitchen gear and restaurant interior stuff; or near/in Tsukiji, the huge wholesale (fish) market which, quite by the way, is the most amazing place in all of Tokyo anyway. Go early in the morning, like 7 or 8 am. Or (to return to knives) in one of the knife shops in the Ginza; or in a department store in the Ginza (where prices will be higher, probably). Ignorant amateur's question: I am about to buy another Japanese knife myself. Friend says to get "molybdenum steel" which reportedly does not rust as easily as carbon steel yet can be sharpened just like carbon steel. Is that right?
