I am a huge knife entusiast. I will be flying in and out of Tokyo and im also planning to go to Kappabashi street. The thing is that my favourote knife produser is located in the City og Niimi in Okayama prefecture wich is about 5.5 hours away from Tokyo. Is this ridicoulus to do in a 1 week trip in Japan? Or could i find my beloved Nas Takeda knife in Tokyo? And if i go is Okayama and the surrounding areas any nice?
For context im also planning to visit Kyoto and Osaka.
2 comments
I’ve been to Sakai that is a city known for knife making and I can tell you that going to a blacksmith unannounced is for sure a bad idea. I was later told that they are not expecting visitors and they would especially not be prepared to show anything to foreigners (mostly because of language barrier).
If you mean this place, [http://takedahamono.com/english/index.html](http://takedahamono.com/english/index.html) it seems useless to go there to buy knife as they stopped selling online and say you can only buy from their dealer.
The best ways to buy their knife would be to go to Tsubaya in Kappabashi or check to buy them from their US dealers, the list is on their website.
For me, yes, would be really stupid to go there unannounced as you would not be sure to be able to see something and most likely unable to even buy something.
Nas Takeda knife can be bought at Tsubaya in Kappabashi.
https://tsubaya.co.jp/
Niimi City is an approximate 3-hour train ride from Osaka. Takeda’s factory and office are probably not in a condition to handle visitors, so you may not want to go there. Unless you can get in touch with them through some connections and make an appointment.