Rakuten?

[paulraphael]

Has anyone braved the waters of Global Rakuten to shop for knives? I know about this site from friends who a blue jean fetishists, but haven't bought from it myself. It seems like a multiverse of Japanese Amazon-like stores.

Poking around there today I discovered this "Drunken Mind Baked Beef Knife," and lo and behold, it's a Suisin Inox Honyaki gyuto (I think ... does Suisin mean drunk mind??) for about a $50 discount.

The translations are almost universally hilarious here, so the best advice is probably speak Japanese, know exactly what you're getting from the picture, or caveat emptor ...

 

[Vancouverguy]

I ordered a shigefusa from them... it turned out actually very nice.. But beware of customs, as they generally put the actual amount on what the item is worth and you'll get taxed. The package came within 2 weeks... But honestly, I've only had one experience with them. Reviews on this website is quite ... negative though. Why don't you get a Suisin from korin? They have a 15% off too!

 

[ynot1985]

yeah plenty of people buy from there

rakuten is basically the amazon of Japan.

some places send overseas.. if not, use a forwarder like tenso

 

[LifeByA1000Cuts]

Both the Japanese and the Germans will probably have a specialized shape for dealing with baked beef in an intoxicated state.

 

[paulraphael]

Both the Japanese and the Germans will probably have a specialized shape for dealing with baked beef in an intoxicated state.

But the Germans would have a single word for it.

 

[daveb]

With 14 syllables.

I think Rakuten is more analogous to a mall full of wally marts. But in a couple years of hearing about them I've not heard any complaints. Probably safe to buy from.

 

[niwaki-boy]

I've never bought anything there but as Dave says and I've seen through the forums in my limited time.. no complaints
One of these days I'll have to give it a go

I like to cruise Rakuten for the descriptions some of which are just priceless :doublethumbsup:

 

[mr drinky]

I have used Rak a handful of times. You always get what you ordered, but frankly I sometimes cut and past the Japanese letters in the search engine and go that route. Some of the good knives don't pop up on the english site. I've had times where I cut and past the Japanese and then try searching for it in English and you get different results. You can find some gems on there if you enter through the backdoor and don't do the commercial site.

k.

 

[perneto]

Have you ever seen a Tanaka R2 there? I'm on the hunt

 

[Badgertooth]

Have you ever seen a Tanaka R2 there? I'm on the hunt

Yup but it's got a ****** handle.

 

[LifeByA1000Cuts]

Kiya HAP72 have been seen there too if anybody is crazy enough to want to try (one canadian importer has these too from time to time but priced on the high side).

 

[perneto]

Yup but it's got a ****** handle.

Ah yeah seen those, i'm looking for the proper handle though.

 

[paulraphael]

With 14 syllables.

I think Rakuten is more analogous to a mall full of wally marts. But in a couple years of hearing about them I've not heard any complaints. Probably safe to buy from.

I think it varies from vendor to vendor. My friend who buys a lot from Rakuten warns to be careful. The issue isn't the vendors' honesty but their international return policy. You could get stuck with a huge return shipment bill with some of the vendors. Other ones will have a much more liberal satisfaction guarantee and will take care of shipping (or at least will help you out).

 

[DaveInMesa]

I made my first visit to Rakuten as a result of this thread, and found this listing; I go wrong, and Sten K シリーズホネスキ 15cm saliva is with it　

On the other hand, they were the only place I've seen that correctly calls them "petit knives", rather than petty kives. A small detail, but "God is in the details", as they say

 

[Noodle Soup]

My one and only order from them a few months ago was a complete failure. I ordered a cleaver and tried to pay pal it. That is normally pretty simple. But after all the usual string of e-mails I received one from them saying pay pal would send me a confirmation request e-mail. That never showed up and after a few weeks more I received an angry e-mail from them saying they were canceling my order. Still don't really know why but I won't bother trying to order from them again.

 

[TheCaptain]

I've used it once and had no problems. They didn't even push the charge through until after I received the knife which I thought was a bit odd...

 

[AllanP]

Yup but it's got a ****** handle.

It's actually a surprisingly comfortable and practical handle. The poor man Tanaka r2 is my go to knife for awhile now. You just got to round the choil and spine a bit.

Although I'm not sure if it's ground the same way as the iron wood ones. It's def not a laser