# Tokyo vacation



## Graydo77 (Sep 7, 2016)

So far it's been a blast for the few days I've been here. We are staying in an apartment in Nakano and the amount of small restaurants within walking distance is just awesome. We took the train to kappabashi shopping area in Asakusa yesterday and visited a few knife shops. The amount of knives were impressive but unfortunately the brand selection wasn't. Was still fun to look at all the different styles especially some of the funky style ones. We will be heading to the tsukiji market in a couple days to browse the few stores located there(Masamoto) and hope to find something to bring home. Also stumbled across a small tool shop that was on a blog that's only a few stops down from us on the JR line. Old blog but it said that they carry shigs so we will see if I get lucky[emoji4]

Wish me some luck[emoji1]


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## rami_m (Sep 7, 2016)

Keep us updated.


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## LifeByA1000Cuts (Sep 7, 2016)

So which brands are up for selection there, and what are the actual prices for staple knives in staple qualities (as in W#2/W#3 kasumi/kurouchi)?


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## Graydo77 (Sep 7, 2016)

There was a whole lot of Tojiro, one shop had a bunch of McCusta, some Shuns and it seemed like 95% of all the carbon steels were private label stuff. For the stainless knives all I heard them say is vg-10. 
Kama Asa Shoten had a decent selection of carbons, white #2 & #3, blue #2 but no AS or #1. All these were their own private label brand.
Kamata also had a ton of their own private label stuff that gets shipped in. From what he told me about their stainless it seemed like everything was vg-10 and I was disappointed that he really wasn't sure what his carbons actually were(either that or he didn't have time to explain). He had one nice looking blade he said was made by Tanaka and it was 60,000yen. 
All in all it was a fun day, we missed out on one shop because they closed early and was down a side street(my luck it was the gem of all the stores[emoji23]). I did grab a nice 2.6mm thick 33cm flat bottom carbon wok, my one purchase of the day.


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## LifeByA1000Cuts (Sep 8, 2016)

What are the price points of these private brands like?


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## Graydo77 (Sep 8, 2016)

They were reasonable I guess, depending on what size knife. What size knife were you thinking about? On a positive note I found a shop with two kuriochi shigs. I bought them both because I thought the price was right.[emoji4]


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## Graydo77 (Sep 8, 2016)

For 140 bucks I thought it was a good deal.
https://flic.kr/p/LQCiXy


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## LifeByA1000Cuts (Sep 8, 2016)

Wondering how much can be saved on the generic-in-decent-quality stuff, say bog-standard 7 inch w#2 kurouchi santokus or 11 inch kasumi w#2/w#3 yanagis, compared to what they tend to be resold at in the west...


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## tienowen (Sep 8, 2016)

Man that was the good deal you got there! Have you get a chance to check any store carry Konosuke or MASAKAGE. I would like to check some semi stainless or AS knife as well.


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## pkjames (Sep 8, 2016)

konosuke is not for sale in Japan apart from their storefront in Sakai, whcih is basically empty as a friend of mine went a couple of days ago, FWIW.


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## Graydo77 (Sep 8, 2016)

The store owner did let me handle this tho[emoji7][emoji7]. An order for someone just came in.

https://flic.kr/p/LXf5RE
https://flic.kr/p/LT9FCe


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## Graydo77 (Sep 8, 2016)

Here's the other lil guy I grabbed also.
https://flic.kr/p/LXAAQN


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## tienowen (Sep 8, 2016)

pkjames said:


> konosuke is not for sale in Japan apart from their storefront in Sakai, whcih is basically empty as a friend of mine went a couple of days ago, FWIW.



Aloha, Thank for the information. I was plan to save up and order a custom sashimi knife from them but they don't take order for US customer. I think ask some knife vendor in US if they can do custom order.


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## Graydo77 (Sep 16, 2016)

Made it down to tsukiji Masamoto today, quite the place they had there[emoji1]. The staff was very limited in English but with my girlfriend there to speak to them it made it a lil easier. It was real fun talking with the shop owner about knives and showing him the pictures of some of the handles I made. He said I have a job if I ever move there as there is only a couple handle makers in the area [emoji23]
https://flic.kr/p/Mh2uEH
https://flic.kr/p/LjEZb1
https://flic.kr/p/LjEZMb


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## Graydo77 (Sep 16, 2016)

So this is what I decided to get while I was there. It's bigger than what I intended(sold out of smaller sizes) but I wanted something different and this really caught my eye.
https://flic.kr/p/M7u1GS

https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/85pbAu

https://flic.kr/p/Mhi8Nv


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## Graydo77 (Sep 17, 2016)

Grabbed some king crab and scallops while at tsukiji market and brought em back to the apartment. I've had a lot of King crab in my day but nothing as fresh as this[emoji4]

https://flic.kr/p/LRFhos


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