Has Konosuke Stopped Accepting Direct Orders from International Customers?

A quick run of the text at the following link leads me to believe so, but I can't read Japanese. Can anyone confirm this? Was I under a rock?

http://www.konosuke-sakai.com/news/log/eid181.html

If I read that right (translation) he is just doing orders for local.

its actually that they stopped selling within japan because foreign sales have taken off so much and they are working hard to support that.

I thought I didn't read that right.

Jon,

Thanks for clearing that up. That was what Google translator seemed to indicate, but that had me confused.

i tried to order a knife directly recently. if you try to order from konosuke in the US theyll just forward you to **** and you order through him.

labor of love said:

i tried to order a knife directly recently. if you try to order from konosuke in the US theyll just forward you to **** and you order through him.

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That was my suspicion.

You have to go through a US based distributor to get them.

Got it. On a related note--and I ask this as an innocent inquiry, not wishing to provoke--it seems that either **** is offering Fujiyama knives at deep discounts-20% to 30% plus, depending on the knife--over Konosuke's direct order prices, or that they are selling "Hawk" knives as "Fujiyama." The 270 "Fujiyama white #2" that **** lists at $399, for example, would cost 39,000 yen ($500 if my currency conversion is correct) plus shipping, while the "Hawk" white steel version of the same knife costs the equivalent of $402 before shipping. Anyone know which is the case?

kalaeb said:

You have to go through a US based distributor to get them.

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Are there any alternate distributors to ****?

Namaxy said:

Are there any alternate distributors to ****?

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+1

There's a store in Toronto that carries Konosuke: Tosho knife arts.

Namaxy said:

Are there any alternate distributors to ****?

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just watch the B/S/T section. a konosuke turns up once a week.:lol2:

True, but with the exception of Bishamon's yanagiba, I only remember seeing gyutos of various stripes on the B/S/T.

unless youre getting something with hd steel, I really dont see any reason to buy from konosuke at all honestly. what knife are you looking to purchase?

sorry, i just nocticed you were interested in the fujiyama.

Nothing particular at the moment, but I'm looking at adding some single bevels to my repertoire. Probably either a deba and a yanagiba or a mioroshi, which I would use in the way the Theory and CitizenSnips use theirs (whole fish and poultry fabrication, portioning, occasional slicing). If I go the latter route, the options for blue steel plus ebony handle are either Konosuke or custom from a brand that Korin or JKI carries. Just trying to get a feel for what's out there.

Rottman said:

There's a store in Toronto that carries Konosuke: Tosho knife arts.

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+1
Great store with some great knives...

http://toshoknifearts.com/

Tosho is a nice store, they have no problem getting custom work in from Konosuke for you, I think they ship anywhere. I'm not sure, I have never ordered, they are pretty close, only Konosuke and Takeda mostly though.

I have ordered from Tosho Knife Arts (an item I couldn't find elsewhere) and wouldn't hesitate to do so again. Relatively quick and inexpensive shipping (if I recall correctly) and they seem like nice people (little hand written thank you note on my receipt).

Thanks, all.