I have been using this product for one year, I am not a Japanese, I just like knife I collected many different type of gyuto or chef knives.
for the good point of this knife:
1. The weight just nice, it have well balance, the blade heavier than the handle making it using have good momentum.
2. The blade curve profile is excellent, not like the French style chef knife, this gyuto only have a little curve, making the cutting and slicing easy and comfortable.
3. The traditional build of handle is comfortable to grid.
4. The blade edge have metal laminate Hamon pattern, looks fancy.
For the bad points:
1. It blade using Japanese white paper steel, shirogami core, and soft iron cover on each side, resulting it very easy to get rust, it will rust in a minutes, when using have to keep constant dry by wiping using dry cloth every 3-5 cuts , after every use have to clean, wipe dry, and oil. Before every use, have to use soup clean off the oil, repeat tediously every time. Which I find it not worth the time and effort.
2. The sharpness of edge DOES NOT hold well. For those who claim it holds the sharp edge well, I would say their level of SHARP is lower than mine sharpness defination, it will have good sharpness right after you whetstone sharpen it, the sharpness will drop immediately after your next use, let say 8 hours later, if you want back the ultra sharpness, u have to wetstone it again and again everytime before use it, edge holding are BAD, by the way, I am using soft rubber material chopping board.
Be warn for those who buy Japanese Gyuto, donot choose Shirogami or SKD steel core knife, it will disappoint you. Only Japanese are know how to appreciate their rusting charaters.
Summary: I kind of like this knife, because of it length, it light weight, good balance, the built, it style and look, and also the handle. It would be a wonderful knife to have only if change the core become VG-10 and sides are stainless steel.