This article was updated on 02 Aug 2021 to include the 10 minute video interview with the owner of Tower Knives Osaka rather than the expired link to the original full length video from NHK.
As some of you might know, I also have a recipe blog (https://ducksoupeasy.blogspot.com/) that preceded this travel blog. While it has been a while since I posted a new recipe, I continue to cook. I had always used a Chinese cleaver whenever I prepared meals, but now use Japanese knives. Since I often travel to Japan and whenever I am near Osaka, I always stop by this Japanese knife store located in an area known as Shinsekai (新世界, lit. "New World"), located in the southern part of the city.
Please continue reading the rest of the article to see a video about the store and its founder, and to see more photographs.
I first found out about this Japanese knife store after watching an episode of NHK's (Japan's Educational TV station) Japanology Plus, streamed over the internet in 2018, profiling the store's Canadian-born owner and founder. You can also watch a short 10 minute excerpt from the interview:
By watching the video, you will learn about Japanese cooking knives, see the interior of the Osaka stores, and why this store is a good place to buy Japanese knives. I would urge you to watch the video first before reading the rest of the article to find about my visits to the store in Shinsekai (新世界).
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| Shinsekai (新世界) |
Shinsekai (新世界)
Shinsekai (新世界) is an area in the southern part of Osaka, whose centerpiece is the landmark tower, the Tsūtenkaku (通天閣, lit. "Tower Reaching Heaven"). As a result of minimal redevelopment after World War II, the area has become one of Japan's poorest. Despite its negative image and commonly held reputation as Osaka's most dangerous area, Shinsekai boasts a colorful history and unique identity. Whether the stigma surrounding Shinsekai is deserved is open to debate. [1] The neighborhood is a tourist attraction, a great place to find a restaurant to eat at, and whenever I've visited, it felt like the rest of Japan - very safe.
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| Shinsekai (新世界) |
Tower Knives Osaka (タワーナイブズ大阪 新世界の包丁専門店) Stores
The two Shinsekai Tower Knives Osaka stores are located within one block of the Tsūtenkaku Tower, so the stores are really easy to find. There is also a store in Tokyo (which I have never visited) located in the Tokyo Skytree Solamachi Shopping Center if your travel plans do not include Osaka (see Tower Knives Tokyo (タワーナイブズ東京) Information and Access). If you have watched the video, you will find out the smaller first Shinsekai store is mainly for professionals, displaying the really high-end (i.e. really expensive) knives for chefs, and the second more spacious store, has knives for non-professionals and contains the workshop where, if your timing is right, you can see a master sharpener at work creating a new knife.
I have never visited the first store (where the really high-end knives are sold), but have visited the second store twice, once on 24 Oct 2018 and a second time on 02 Nov 2019. As in the video, there is no pressure to buy and the store's bilingual staff (Japanese and English) does a really good job in educating novices like me about Japanese knives. You can see the array of knives available and learn about the regions in Japan that produce them. Other cutting and sharpening items, besides knives, are also sold at the second store. Credit cards are accepted (credit card acceptance in Japan is unusual), so you do not have to bring a lot of cash to purchase a knife.
Bring Your Passport
Do not forget your passport, as the stores participate in the Japan Tax-Free Shop Program, which allows foreigners to make purchases tax free as long as the goods leave Japan. If you buy ¥5000 worth of products in one purchase and have a foreign passport, you are not charged the consumption tax (currently 10%) at shops participating in this program. A tax free receipt is placed in your passport, which you are supposed to surrender before you exit Japan at the airport (there is a tax counter after security screening and before Immigration) and your purchases examined to make sure they are leaving Japan (i.e. you did not resell or give-away your purchases in Japan). For knives, the item must be placed in your checked luggage and not in your carry-on (unless you want the knife confiscated and you are likely to be arrested). Nobody ever stops at the tax counter and nobody ever checks to see that you are exiting Japan with your tax free purchases. So just remove the tax free receipt from your passport at the first opportunity and at the airport, go straight to the Immigration counter after security.
Why Buy A Japanese Knife?
So why buy a comparatively expensive Japanese knife when you can get a knife domestically for a lower cost? Buying a Japanese knife only makes sense if you intend to use it, so if you cook like me, this makes for an indispensable tool. The knife is incredibly sharp. You can easily, with no pressure, cut a single piece of paper and knives available domestically in the USA are dull in comparison. An incredibly sharp knife cuts without tearing, which leads to clean cuts and affects the taste and "shelf life" of what you are cutting. Finally, the knives are beautiful works of art, with very few equivalents in the Western knife world. So buying a Japanese knife is an investment into a uniquely beautiful cooking tool.
The first time I visited, I got educated about Japanese knives and got to try cutting vegetables with a dull knife (which cut like the knives I had been using at home) and then a bunch of sharp Japanese knives. It is quite an eye opening experience when you cut using a dull vs. a sharp knife. The second time I visited, I knew what I wanted and went straight to trying out the knives I wanted on the vegetables. One of the challenges in buying a knife for myself is that I am left-handed. It is a problem if you are left-handed since most knives are made for someone right-handed. Not to worry, the store stocks knives for left-handed people like me, but not every right-handed knife the store sells has an equivalent left-handed version.
You will be asked how you intend to use the knife. The question is asked since there are knives for seafood, knives for meat, knives for vegetables, and general purpose knives, called Santoku bōchō (三徳包丁; lit. "three virtues" or "three uses"). For most home cooks, Santoku knives are the most useful and versatile, and that is what I tested and eventually bought. Since the knives are made in differing lengths, you will get to try them all (strongly suggested) to find the knife length that is most comfortable for you and appropriate for your cutting tasks, since the weight and feel of the knife differs with the length of the blade. The knives are available in the traditional steel that has been forged in Japan or the newer stainless steel. The difference being that the traditional steel knives must be thoroughly dry before being stored or they will rust. That is not a problem with stainless steel knives (which were my choice). The final choice for purchasing a knife is the handle, since the wooden handle is available in different finishes (depending upon the knife manufacturer).
On my first visit, I purchased a 170 mm (6.7 in) left-handed stainless steel Santoku knife made by Fujii Keiichi, a third-generation sharpener from Sakai, Japan, who is well known for producing high quality blades for over 52 years. The knife sharpener engraves his name, like any good artist signs their work of art, on one side of the blade to show his pride in workmanship and a picture business card is placed into the knife box. This sized knife felt the best to me and was close to the length of blade I had been using to prepare my meals. I also tried a knife with a longer blade and felt that it did not feel right for my normal usage (I am reviewing this decision, since there are times when I need a knife with a longer blade). After using the first knife for a year, I went back to Osaka the next year to buy some smaller knives. Since I liked using the first knife, on my next visit I bought a second stainless steel knife, 130 mm (5.1 in) in length, also made by Fujii Keiichi, and a smaller 90 mm (3.5 in) stainless steel paring knife made by his apprentice. I have since been using these smaller knives for a year now (together with the original knife purchased) and I am still very pleased with all the knives I've bought at this store.
Keep Knives Sharp
Knives do not stay sharp after repeated use if you do not take care of them. You can buy sharpening supplies at the store and the staff gives you a quick tutorial on what you need, like whetstones (flat stones used to sharpen knives), but whetstones are very heavy and can be bought when you return home (strongly suggested). The store's website also has a video that shows how to sharpen knives and is worth watching (there are also many more knife sharpening videos available on the internet). The second store in Osaka also will sharpen knives for a fee for those that do not want to do it themselves. For an overseas traveler, this would mean bringing the knife back to Japan, so it is not a viable option for me. So you cannot just buy a Japanese knife without also (later) buying the tools needed to keep it sharp.
When I got home, I bought a set of three whetstones (they come in different grits; the larger the number, the finer the finish) and a double sided strop (a long wooden paddle covered with two types of leather) to keep all my knives sharp. I sharpened all the old (dull) knives I owned using the entire set of whetstones I bought, so now the knives are sharp and cut much better than before. I always use the strop to keep all my knives sharp before using them (think about the old fashion barber sharpening the straight razor on a long leather strip, but now that leather is glued to a long wooden paddle). Using the strop before each use has kept all my Japanese knives sharp, although after a few years of use, I am probably going to need to use the finishing whetstone to bring the Japanese knives back to their original sharpness.
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| Have your name hand engraved on your purchased knife |
Name Engraving
As a final touch, your name will be hand engraved for free on any knife purchased. Other knife stores charge a fee for this service, but here it is done for free. Your English name can be engraved on the knife (subject to blade size and the length of your name), but I had my Chinese name engraved on the knives that I purchased. It has been a long time since I learned how to write my Chinese name and I cannot claim that I still remember how to write all the characters, but technology comes to the rescue for challenged people like me. I have the three characters of my Chinese name stored in Google Translate, so I just showed the staff the three characters stored in my smartphone and one of the staff was able to personalize the knife with my Chinese name. The knife must be purchased first before the engraving can take place since once engraved, the knife is yours forever.
The first time I went to the store, the entire visit, which included the Japanese knife education, test cutting the vegetables with many knives, purchase, and finally knife engraving, took about two hours. The second visit only took one hour (test cutting, purchase, and engraving) since I knew what knives I wanted. I would suggest that you try to arrive when the store opens at 10:00 since the store gets busy as the day goes on.
Tower Knives Osaka (タワーナイブズ大阪 新世界の包丁専門店) Information and Access
Name:
- Tower Knives Osaka
- タワーナイブズ大阪 新世界の包丁専門店
- 1 Chome-4-7 Ebisuhigashi, Naniwa Ward, Osaka, 556-0002, Japan
- 〒556-0002 大阪府大阪市浪速区恵美須東１丁目４−7
- Japan Rail Pass (7-, 14-, 21-day):
- Valid for travel throughout Japan on Japan Rail (with some exceptions).
- Purchase outside of Japan. Must show passport and have a short-term (90 day) visitor's stamp to redeem at selected airports and rail stations. (This is changing)
- Once activated, must be used on consecutive days (i.e. cannot skip days).
- Website: https://japanrailpass.net/en/.
- Plan your rail trip using Hyperdia: http://www.hyperdia.com/en/.
- Japan Rail (JR) Shin-Imamiya Station is the nearest station for multiple JR lines, where it is about a 10 minute walk to the store.
- Tennoji station is the nearest major station and it is one stop to the east.
- The train trip is fully covered by the JR Pass.
- Approx. 5 minute walk to the store from Ebisucho Station on the Osaka Metro Sakaisuji Line.
- The subway station is convenient if you are using the Osaka Metro.
- The subway trip is not covered by the JR Pass.
- 10:00-18:00
- +81 6-4301-7860
- Plan your rail/subway trip using Hyperdia:
- Japan Rail Pass (7-, 14-, 21-day):
- Tower Knives (タワーナイブズ) website:
Map:
Tower Knives Tokyo (タワーナイブズ東京) Information and Access
Name:
- Tower Knives Tokyo
- タワーナイブズ東京
Address:
- 4F, Tokyo Solamachi East Yard, 1 Chome-1-2 Oshiage, Sumida City, Tokyo 131-0045, Japan
- 〒131-0045 東京都墨田区押上１丁目１−2
- Plan your rail trip using Hyperdia: http://www.hyperdia.com/en/.
- Tokyo Skytree and Oshiage Stations are the nearest stations to the Tokyo Skytree Solamachi Shopping Center, where the store is located on the 4th floor.
- Multiple subway and private rail lines stop at these stations, see the Tokyo Skytree Access webpage for details:
- The subway and private rail trips are not covered by the JR Pass.
Hours and Phone Number:
- 10:00-21:00
- +81 3-5637-7702
- Plan your rail/subway trip using Hyperdia:
- Tower Knives (タワーナイブズ) website:
- Tokyo Skytree English website:
References
[1] Wikipedia. "Shinsekai". Last modified: 24 Oct 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinsekai.
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