One of the earlier advices, or "reasons" I got about Japanese kitchen knives was "they last a lifetime or much longer than regular knives", or "they're perfection" for like honyaki or so on. Nah, they all get used down, and knives are different enough that the saying doesn't really apply well. The ability to discern and test kinda helped in other fields where advertised vs actual performance differ, which is a lot of fields.
Trying legendary woodworking blacksmiths kitchen knives, as well as swordsmith knives helped show me just how good the kitchen knife smiths are. Also, trying single bevels from outside of Sakai showed me just how good the sharpeners are from there. Sakai heat treat and steel is pretty solid. Tosa stuff is rustic but shouldn't be downplayed, and echizen stuff strikes a great balance of factory consistency with blacksmith techniques.