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

• 3 guidesKitchen knives

  Gyuto, santoku, nakiri and petty — which shape fits your cooking, what the makers actually publish, and what the same knife costs inside Japan.

• In progressBuying from Japan

  Domestic vs export model numbers, warranty that does not travel, import duty, proxy services. The problems every category shares.

• Not startedNext category

  One category at a time, done properly, rather than a thin page on everything. Knives came first because the information gap there is unusually wide.

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.