Buying Japanese Knives in Japan

[prasantrin]

GlorifiedRice found this service http://japanesetradition.net/shipping/ . It's not cheap, but should all other options fail, it may help.

[Zachary Tay]

sorry for the late post Hiroyuki.

i've been waiting for reply either from Juumi or the website from australia.

i don't think i will be getting a response anytime soon from either.

could i trouble you to check on the HSS blade for me please?

[Hiroyuki]

sorry for the late post Hiroyuki.

i've been waiting for reply either from Juumi or the website from australia.

i don't think i will be getting a response anytime soon from either.

could i trouble you to check on the HSS blade for me please?

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OK, sure. I'll ask the hardware shop.

[Hiroyuki]

I got a quick response from the hardware shop. Unfortunately, they do not accept orders from those overseas. You will have to use the type of service that prasantrin mentioned upthread or rely on me.

[Hiroyuki]

I got my first Shigefusa knife, nakiri. For more, click here.

[Hiroyuki]

I got my first Shigefusa knife, nakiri.  For more, click here.

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For those of you who wish to know about the shop from which I bought my nakiri, visit my blog from here.

[TitoM]

Congrats on the Shigefusa, Hiroyuki, they're difficult knives to come by and the prices on that website you reference is quite reasonable. Other online sources for this brand include-- Japan Woodworker, AFramesTokyo, Japan Tool and Babashoten. I got my 300mm yanagi from AFramestokyo for about the same price as listed in that website you mention.

Btw, how reliable is http://japanesetradition.net/shipping/ ? I'm considering Tsukiji Masamoto yanagi since prices in Japan are much cheaper. Thanks!

[Hiroyuki]

Congrats on the Shigefusa, Hiroyuki, they're difficult knives to come by and the prices on that website you reference is quite reasonable. Other online sources for this brand include-- Japan Woodworker, AFramesTokyo, Japan Tool and Babashoten. I got my 300mm yanagi from AFramestokyo for about the same price as listed in that website you mention.

Btw, how reliable is http://japanesetradition.net/shipping/ ? I'm considering Tsukiji Masamoto yanagi since prices in Japan are much cheaper. Thanks!

←

I checked the website of AFramesTokyo, and I found all the Shigefusa knives they offer are out of stock! Isn't it a shame?

Zachary Tay may want to say something about the first and third shops you mentioned. As for the last one, Babashoten, I can't say anything other than that similar knives are less expensive at the shop I mentioned, Yoshizawa Riko. (I can't find any that exactly match in specifications.)

As for your question, I really cannot answer. I hope someone chimes in!

For your reference, Rakuten offers this service:

http://event.rakuten.co.jp/borderless/infoservice/en/

[TitoM]

Thanks, Hiroyuki, after reading the entire thread I see those shops carrying Shigefusa have already been mentioned. Will do more research about japanesetradition.net, I'm not sure rakuten carries what I'm looking for.

[baconburner]

Went to a demontration of Shun knives at Gourmet warehouse. They make left handed models. Not the top top of the line but very sharp and a

lifetime guarantee. VG10 steel.

Cheers

Malcolm

[Edward J]

One of my "regulars" was watching me through the little window in my chocolate room cutting caramels. He approached me afterwards and told me he had come back from Japan and now had distribution rights for several smaller Japanese knife companies . He doesn't have a store yet, but is intead approaching Chefs directly and offering a week "trial period" on certain knifes. I will try out a 6" knife as well as a cranked-neck pastry spatula.

If anyone is interested in contacting him, PM me and I will give his particulars

[deadstroke]

OMG! I managed to find a fellow knife nut in Singapore! Though I am not a professsional chef but merely a university student with an socially questionable fetish. It is quite uncanny actually, since I was actually surfing to find knife stores that I should be visiting in my trip in December.

Anyway I will be both in Tokyo and Osaka, and I won't mind making a trip down to Sakai City but I do need to know if the manufacturers have storefronts there or are there any places that carry several brands. I am not exactly looking to burst my wallet since I already done so a few months ago on a Suisin. The brands I am most interested are the mid range ones like Hiromoto and Ichimonji.

[deadstroke]

Here my humble opnion on the development on the thread so far:

1. The Australian site is actually www.japan-tool.com run by SO. He specializes in natural waterstones whose prices make grown men weep.

2. Actually, both the Kitaeji and Damascus Clad and merely misnomers for true Damascus steel. True damascus has reportedly been reproduced and does not depend on folding different metals to achieve a look. The former 2 are folded steel claddings but done in different manners. I think the Kitaeji is Shigefusa's most coveted line and will be appreciated alot more than the export model damascus.

3. On this budget, I guess you should be open to choices like Hattori, Nenohi and Itou as well.