Japanese-like Kitchen Knives That Japanese Chefs Never Use

As a Japanese, I was checking the “Amazon Best Sellers” and found some kitchen knives that seemed to be Japanese knives but were not known at all in Japan. I’d like to take up some of them.

Hiroshi Knives

The “Hiroshi” brand is completely unknown in Japan. According to the product description, it seems to be a series of “Hiroshi Nagamoto”. “Hiroshi Nagamoto” sounds like a Japanese name, but he’s not even listed on the Japanese Wikipedia.

According to the explanation, it is not written that it was made in Japan at all, and it is not clear where it was made. The prices are extremely low, so I don’t think these are kitchen knives for Japanese chefs.

It seems to be made in China.

 

Traditional Japanese Professional Gyuto Kitchen Chefs Knife by Simple Song

The “Simple Song” kitchen knife is selected as “Amazon’s Choice” for “Japanese knife”. However, no one in Japan knows “Simple Song” either. The logo “単純な歌” (it means simple song) is printed on the knife in Japanese, but its font is too generic for Japanese people to use for knives’s logo by preference.

This kitchen knife is also described as “Traditional Japanese” but it is not written anywhere as made in Japan.

 

The reviews of the above two products are not bad. However, there are many shill reviews on Amazon, so I don’t know if it’s true or not.

If it is a steel kitchen knife, it can cut to some extent by sharpening. Even a 1 dollar kitchen knife
in Japan can be sharpened sharply depending on the skill of sharpening. Sharpening is that important.

However, the difference between kitchen knives appears as you use them. I don’t want you to think these are real Japanese knives.

Among the knives in Amazon Best Seller, the ones I know are made in Japan are only “Tojiro”, “Kyocera”, “Shun”, and “Global”. For more information about the really popular brands in Japan, see the following post.

Japanese Knives: TOP Brands and Famous Production Areas

 

P.S.
Amazon’s Choice for “Japanese knife set” is Cangshan‘s Knife set. But Cangshan is a Chinese brand and has nothing to do with Japan. Though I know there are some high quality Chinese knives and low quality Japanese knives, I don’t want confusing recommendations.

See also:
Ultimate Guide to Buying Authentic Japanese Knives