As the unstoppable spread of the coronavirus caused the pandemic to begin, and as travel to each country became difficult, e-commerce has developed so fast. Chefs and professionals that coveted Japanese knives turned to this platform to have their dream knives, but with this process, legitimacy is one of the questionable aspects.
Different sites are up on the internet nowadays where you can find different brands of popular knives claiming that it is originally made from Japan. Be careful of those who only use words just to connect their knife to Japanese. How genuine are they? Which store are we going to trust too?
JAPANNY : “Best Japanese Knives”
First in the line is the Japanny, this online store together with Seisuke Hamono this partnership is the front of SEKAIE Inc., to help the company in promoting their products which possess the traditional and high spec handmade Japanese kitchen knives to the world.
Japanny was founded in 2014 under the leadership of C.E.O Mr. Atsuhiro Nakamura (Hiro). They now have a physical store located in Kappabashi Tokyo, Japan and Portland Oregon. This online store carried brands such as Sakai Takayuki, Yu Kurosaki, Takeshi Saji, Yoshimi Kato, Kei Kobayashi, Seisuke, Katsushige Anryu, Makoto Kurosaki, Kunihira, Shigeki Tanaka, Jikko Cutlery, Sakai Kikumori, Hideo Kitaoka, Takamura, Shibata Takayuki, Masakage Knife, Sukenari, Iseya, Kanetsune, Seki Kanetsugu, Nao Yamamoto, Fujiwara Teruyasu Knives, Naohito Myojin, Miyako, Misono and Tojiro.
That was huge! There were too many for you to choose from here. For the record, the best-selling brand of Japanny is the Sakai Takayuki, especially the VG10 models with 33 layer Damascus.
The home office is located at Ri 86-3 Hamamachi, Nomi Ishikawa Japan 929-0124 with their telephone number +81 9013928053.
They ship worldwide with a flat rate of $23.90 but charges and tax are not included. These charges and taxes will be shouldered by you and will be added up to your shipment rate. Delivery charges to China have a different rate and due to the pandemic they only deliver through DHL and FedEx for the time being. This method does not allow them to deliver to countries such as India, North Korea and Russia. Though for some reason other people experienced a delay with communicating with them but still on reddit.com a lot of good reviews were found proving that they experienced good quality service on purchasing their products.
HOCHO KNIFE
This online shop seemed mysterious in some ways since they don’t have enough information on their website.
They don’t even make an effort to narrate who they are so that their consumers can get to know them better. All you can know is that they are affiliated with Import Japan.com.Inc. and that they exist in Florida, USA, Kyoto and Hyogo Japan.
They carried brands such as Kyocera, Yaxell, Tojiro Fujitora, Global, Sakai Takayuki, Ryusen, Misono, Masahiro, Masamoto, Glestain, and so much more aside from Japanese knife they also offered different kitchen utensils.
Their best-selling brand is the Iseya I-Series model. You can secure payments via Paypal, Credit card, and Bank Deposit.
They also offer different forms of discounts and benefits and use shipping couriers such as DHL, FedEx and Japan Post. For more information about their shipping policy please visit their website and read the payment and shipping info page.
Please take note to do some research with the price of the knife you want before ordering here since there are some issues of overpricing and they don’t respond fast too. Despite these, they are legit and reputable Online sellers of Japanese knives. They have good reviews for their fast shipment and legitimacy of the product.
JAPANESE CHEF KNIFE
Japanese Chefs Knife (JCK) started in the business in 2003 they supplied almost 2000 different brands of knife either it is Japanese knives or Western-style knife aside from those they launch their own brand of a knife which is known as JCK Original.
They also write a blog about the story of Ichiro Hattori, the founder of Hattori knife. Koki Iwahara is the Chief Administrator and a blog writer of JCK. They are located in Seattle, Washington 98118 or you may contact them through phone number (858) 204-0197.
One of their best talents is that they are very engaging. They carried brands such as Premium | 匠神 Syojin, JCK Original 輝 Kagayaki, JCK Original 風林火山 Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan, JCK Natures, Hattori, Fujiwara Kanefusa, Glestain, Hinoura, Hiromoto, Kanetsugu, Masamoto, Misono, Mizuno Tanrenjo, 裕翠 YUUSUI | Mr. Itou R-2 Custom, Shiki, Shirou Kunimitsu 四郎國光, Sukenari, and Takeshi Saji.Fujiwara Kanefusa is the most popular knife brand and model here in Japanese Chefs knife with over 205 reviews.
They are suggesting to use DHL express for the faster duration of shipping. EMS as the courier takes a longer time as of now due to the pandemic. DHL flat rate is $10 for customers in the United States, Canada, Australia and Asia while $15 for the European customers. A promise of a lower price than you can buy them for if you visited Japan yourself. Note that if shipping problems occur please contact them and the courier, package thief happens sometimes.
JP KNIVES
Roaming around the internet but did not find anything about this online shop.
All that we can find is that it is under the name of Mr. Junzo Saruwatari of SARUWATARI KOGYO CO., LTD. It is located at 3418 Hasama Seki-shi, Gifu, 501-3924 Japan and you may call them through phone number 81-0575-22-8378. They carried brands such as ALLEX, MCUSTA, Gotou Cutlery, Hayashi, Inoguchi, KAI, KANEX, Kitasho, Masahiro, Motohiro, NIKKEN, Satake, SEKI KANETSUGU, Sekizo, SETO, Shizu, S.K.K., Sumikama, Tomihide, Yaxell, and V.ROAD.
Sumikama and Seto are the most popular brands in this store that range from about $120 to $50. These online shops offer free shipping with tracking numbers and $60 insurance that takes 11-23 days of delivery.
Same as the other sellers they also offer EMS, DHL and FedEx as couriers these options are faster with fully guaranteed insurance.
They also give options for left-handed, stock disposal bargains and outdoor knives. Upon seeing reviews in Reddit they say that the knife is for real but maybe it won’t perform well. The price in this shop is too cheap compared with the others. Still, it’s up to you to try anyway.
JAPANESE KNIFE IMPORTS
This is owned by a lovely couple who made great teamwork to bring the business to where it stands now.
Jonathan “Jon” Broida and his wife Sara founded the Japanese Knife Imports in Feb 2010. His passion for knives started when his chef bought him a Masamoto knife and his fondness for it grew stronger.
Her wife, who was born in Japan with a degree in Mass Communication who wanted to use her creativity, decided to help her husband.
Located at 8642 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA 90211 with contact number 310-399-0300. They import different kitchen knives and accessories with the passion to educate people about Japanese history and culture. They carried brands such as En, Gengetsu, Gesshin, Ginrei, Gonbei, Hotaru, Ikazuchi, Jin, JKI, Kintaro, Kochi, Mitsuaki-T, Pomme, Rinkaku, Ryusen, Suien, Zangetsu, Yuri, and Zakuri.
Gesshin Stainless Gyuto is the most famous knife brand and model here in Japanese knife imports with over 140 reviews.
About their policies in payments, shipping and other terms and conditions you will find it on their website. All the instructions and things you need to know were posted there. They are easy to communicate with so you won’t worry if you ever meet some delay or problems with your orders.
Consumers are so happy with the service they give, there were even brief explanations on how to use and take care of the knife they bought and they are very engaging.
Summary
This article is looking forward to helping new people who are thinking about purchasing a knife from online stores. Upon this content, I can clearly say that there are two online stores that lead, the JAPANESE CHEF KNIFE and JAPANESE KNIFE IMPORTS. Since they responded fast with inquiries and their existence was well clear. When someone shows their commitment to you, doubt is no room for you.
