Come to think of it, we have been having the online retailing debate in Oz recently. The main factors are price gouging and lack of innovation by lazy and complacent retailers (who chose to ignore e-retail until it was too late). Another important factor is very, very high rents in the capital cities (particularly Sydney which is just behind Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong for retail space leases) and lousy distribution channels in the regional areas.
This is good for a laugh. A re-branded Ryusen/Ittosai/HD 240mm gyuto for A$343.95 plus shipping (lol). And A$355.00 plus shipping for a Grand Chef 240mm Wa is a bit rich
here.
To be fair, economy of scale comes into it as well. The Australian market for Japanese knives is relatively small and immature and Australian distributors can't buy in the same high volumes that US retailers can and consequently have to pass on the higher prices to consumers. From another angle, the marketing strategy by the market-leading, high-profile Japanese brands like Shun, MAC, Yaxell and Kasumi which are flogging those stupid VG-10 cored,
sanmai monstrosities for $200++ retail set the running for everything else in the market too.
OTOH, there are a couple of Australian online stores selling
Tojiros and Kanetsugus at a reasonable price.
