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Choose, buy and use a Japanese knife.

Independent guides from an editorial team in Tokyo, in four languages. We bought six santoku in Kappabashi and cut with them side by side, and we map 97 knife shops in 13 areas of Japan.

Knives from our 2026 Kappabashi sharpening test, laid side by side on black cloth
FIG. 1Knives from our 2026 Kappabashi sharpening test. Our own photo.

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Japan Tax-Free Shopping From 1 November 2026: What Changes for Knife Buyers

From 1 November 2026, Japan's tax-free shops charge the full price including consumption tax and refund it after a customs check when you leave. What changes for knife buyers in Kappabashi, Sakai, Seki and Kyoto, what the shop will ask, and how to handle the airport.

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Yoshihiro Knives (2026): One Name, Two Companies

Yoshihiro Cutlery is a specialist retailer in Redondo Beach, California, that says it began selling its knives outside Japan in 2008. Goh Umanosuke Yoshihiro is a Sakai brand of Yamawaki Hamono, which holds the Yoshihiro trademarks. The two have been commercially linked, but the name does not tell you who made a given knife.

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Shibata Knives (2026): The Sharpener Who Commissions the Smiths

Takayuki Shibata is not primarily a blacksmith. He is a sharpener and a producer who founded Masakage in 2007 to commission Echizen smiths — Kato, Kurosaki, Saji, Anryu — while his company, IRONCLAD, runs its own Koutetsu brand. What that means for what you are buying.

Guide

How to Spot a Fake Japanese Knife: The Buyer's Checklist (2026)

How to tell a genuine Japanese knife from a misleading one: country of manufacture, named steel grades, implausible specs for the price, forged vs applied Damascus patterns, and the green flags of a real maker. A buyer-education checklist, not a blacklist.

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Best Carbon Steel Japanese Knife 2026: How to Choose Shirogami vs Aogami

A buying guide to the best carbon steel Japanese knife — Shirogami vs Aogami, which blade type to buy first, honest price bands ($/$$/$$$), the brands that make them, and the care routine that keeps carbon rust-free.

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Where to Buy Japanese Knives in Tsubame-Sanjo: Tojiro & Open Factories (2026)

Where to buy Japanese knives in Tsubame-Sanjo, Niigata — the open-factory culture at Tojiro, Tadafusa and Suwada, the Regional Industry Center showroom, what to check in-store, tax-free shopping, and how to fly a Niigata knife home.

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