Japan Made Goods
Japanese products, explained from Japan.

Japanese products, explained from Japan

I live in Japan and read Japanese. That is the whole advantage behind this site: maker pages, domestic retailer listings and Japanese-language documentation are directly available to me, and they routinely contain things that never make it into English — domestic model numbers, line renamings, sizing guidance written for Japanese buyers, and prices in the market the product actually comes from.

I have not tested the products covered here, and I say so on every page. What you get instead is a careful reading of what makers publish, what domestic distribution shows, and what owners consistently report, from someone who can read both sides of the language barrier. How this site works.

Categories

Four Japanese kitchen knife shapes, drawn on one millimetre scale Blade outlines for gyuto, santoku, nakiri and petty on one millimetre scale. Each shape is drawn at the smallest size listed for it — gyuto at 180mm, santoku at 165mm, petty at 120mm, and the nakiri at about 165mm, which is roughly the only size it is sold in. The full range is given as text beside each name. Because each is drawn at its smallest size, the drawing understates how much the gyuto and santoku ranges overlap: both are ordinary at 180mm, which the drawing does not show. The gyuto has a curved belly rising to a point, the santoku is flatter with a lower tip, the nakiri is a rectangle with no point, and the petty is a small pointed blade. Proportions are conventional rather than measured, and the outlines are drawn from published descriptions, not from knives the author owns or has handled. One scale for all four. Each is drawn at the smallest size listed beside it; the nakiri is sold at about one size. So this understates the overlap — a gyuto and a santoku are both ordinary at 180mm, which the drawing does not show. Gyuto 180–210mm Santoku 165–180mm Nakiri about 165mm Petty 120–150mm Outlines are schematic; proportions are conventional, not measurements. Drawn from published descriptions — not from knives I own or have handled.
From the open category: four of the kitchen knife shapes you will be choosing between, drawn from published descriptions rather than from knives I own or have handled. <a href='/knives/'>Start here</a> if you are picking your first one.

Why only one category so far

Because a site with one thin page on twelve subjects is worth less than a site with three good ones on a subject it actually understands. Each category gets opened when there is something to say about it that is not already in English — and closed out properly before the next one starts.