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- Apr 14, 2011
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I spent a little over a week in Tokyo in late October and early November. Naturally, buying knives was a primary goal. While what I came back with may not be what others here would seek out, they fit my current needs.
I started on the restaurant supply street of Kappabashi. For those that haven't been there, it seems like the most common businesses are cutlery stores. I didn't keep count but I would guess around several dozen. My first stop was a shop offering Sugimoto cleavers where the owner was willing to lay out everything between the number 1 through number 7. I have a 7 and its a heavy beast for serious chopping. I wanted to actually hold a number 6 as well as the others sizes. It didn't take me long to decide I needed the number 6. That was followed by a stop in another shop where the owner went in the back to pull out all his left handed Honesuki (they weren't on display), Here I settled on a 150mm Misono. I just like the grind better on this one.
Naturally I made two trips to the old Tsukiji fish market. While there are a lot of knife shops this can be a very crowded place. Many of the shops seemed to be primarily trying to push Damascus clad santoku to tourists. My second trip back was to hunt down three shops in partiular, Masamoto, Aritsugu and the main Sugimoto location. At Masamoto I bought a carbon 240mm gyuto and a stubby carbon 100mm Honesuki. I like short Honesuki but have not been happy with the steel of the one I have.
Aritsugu was a friendly shop but I didn't find anything I really needed there.
Sugimoto was a completely different experience. They had a table out front displaying tourist knives, santoku, short gyuto, petty's etc. Inside the shop both walls were lined with glass display cases of what I considered more interesting cutlery. I would have kind of liked to have a Sugimoto gyuto. A few inches inside on the left was a display of their famous cleavers. The problem was the second I stepped past the doorway to look at the cleavers a Japanese lady descended on me like a hawk demanding I leave the shop. Something about they did not allow anyone inside the shop. So what, I'm supposed to do stand in the street and shout which knife I want to buy without handling it? All I can say is she seemed very angry I would even think of entering. Maybe she had decided I wasn't a serious customer and was not worth her respect. I certainly would not go back!
There were also a number of sharpening stones I would have liked but those are just too heavy for my luggage.
For the most part, I accomplshed my knife buying goals there though.
I started on the restaurant supply street of Kappabashi. For those that haven't been there, it seems like the most common businesses are cutlery stores. I didn't keep count but I would guess around several dozen. My first stop was a shop offering Sugimoto cleavers where the owner was willing to lay out everything between the number 1 through number 7. I have a 7 and its a heavy beast for serious chopping. I wanted to actually hold a number 6 as well as the others sizes. It didn't take me long to decide I needed the number 6. That was followed by a stop in another shop where the owner went in the back to pull out all his left handed Honesuki (they weren't on display), Here I settled on a 150mm Misono. I just like the grind better on this one.
Naturally I made two trips to the old Tsukiji fish market. While there are a lot of knife shops this can be a very crowded place. Many of the shops seemed to be primarily trying to push Damascus clad santoku to tourists. My second trip back was to hunt down three shops in partiular, Masamoto, Aritsugu and the main Sugimoto location. At Masamoto I bought a carbon 240mm gyuto and a stubby carbon 100mm Honesuki. I like short Honesuki but have not been happy with the steel of the one I have.
Aritsugu was a friendly shop but I didn't find anything I really needed there.
Sugimoto was a completely different experience. They had a table out front displaying tourist knives, santoku, short gyuto, petty's etc. Inside the shop both walls were lined with glass display cases of what I considered more interesting cutlery. I would have kind of liked to have a Sugimoto gyuto. A few inches inside on the left was a display of their famous cleavers. The problem was the second I stepped past the doorway to look at the cleavers a Japanese lady descended on me like a hawk demanding I leave the shop. Something about they did not allow anyone inside the shop. So what, I'm supposed to do stand in the street and shout which knife I want to buy without handling it? All I can say is she seemed very angry I would even think of entering. Maybe she had decided I wasn't a serious customer and was not worth her respect. I certainly would not go back!
There were also a number of sharpening stones I would have liked but those are just too heavy for my luggage.
For the most part, I accomplshed my knife buying goals there though.
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