Online Sharpening Seminars

So, i want to get my whole online seminar thing rolling finally. I've had some time to think about this a bit and work out some of the kinks and i think we're ready for primetime (well, there might still be a few kinks, but nothing major). So, we're going to start with Double Bevel Basics. In this seminar, i will cover the basic grips and movements used in sharpening double bevel knives. I will also discuss burr formation, burr reduction and removal, sharpening angles, edge/grind types, and the basics of sharpening the tips of knives.

The class will take place on Feb 5th, 2012 at 5:15 PM PST and again on Feb 12th, 2012 at 5:15 PM PST. There will be slots for 6 people max in this class (to make it less confusing and easier for those participating). We will also have spots for 2 local people to come by the store and experience the seminar in person. You can signup anytime until Feb 3rd, 2012 for the first class and Feb 10th, 2012 for the second class. Regardless of the number of people signed up at that time, class registrations will close. This will allow me to send out prepared materials to the participants ahead of time so they have visual aids through the class.

The seminar is conducted via Skype, so you will need a computer with skype. You will also need speakers and a microphone. Webcams are options, but highly recommended. At the time of the seminar, I will call the entire group in a group call. You do not need skype premium to do this (thats what i have it for).

Following this seminar, i will try to schedule in some of the other classes. This is the list of classes and the order they will occur in. When we get through a cycle, we will start over again.

Double Bevel Basics- How to sharpen double bevel knives (Feb 5th, 2012 at 5:15 pm PST and Feb 12th, 2012 at 5:15 pm PST)

Single bevel basics- How to sharpen single bevel knives

Basic Sharpening Technique Q&A

Stone Selection… picking the right stones for your knives and the tasks at hand

Tip Sharpening- the basic concepts

Hamaguri edges- and in-depth primer

Microbevels- what they are, why we use them, and how to use them

Advanced sharpening technique Q&A

To sign up, please send an e-mail to Jon@JapaneseKnifeImports. Make sure to state that you would like to sign up for either the Feb 5th class or the Feb 12th class. Also, please include your full name as well as your skype name. The cost of the seminar will be $15 to be billed ahead of time via pay pal. The class must be paid for on time to participate. The class will last about 1-1.5 hours (and may run longer if there is a need).

If you have any other questions, please dont hesitate to ask.

Thanks.

-Jon

Introducing Japanese Knife Society

For quite some time now, we have been working in the background to try to make some educational knife skills videos for people trying to learn how to use Japanese knives.  We have teamed up with Tatsuya Aoki and Mitsunori Ueda to produce these videos and finally have a few that are ready for you.  We will be adding in English notes or voiceovers to these videos as they are produced to make the skill sets more accessible to you.

If you have questions about specific knives, techniques, skills, etc., please don’t hesitate to ask.  We will do our best to respond to these requests with videos and/or detailed explanations.

Anyways, without any further delay, allow me to introduce Japanese Knife Society.

www.JapaneseKnifeSociety.com

http://www.facebook.com/JapaneseKnifeSociety

http://www.youtube.com/user/japaneseknifesociety

Japanese Knife Society Mission

 Can you use Japanese knives?
 Japanese knives, or Wa-bocho, have been increasing in popularity over the past few years.  Wa-bocho are some of the sharpest knives in the world, however, there are so few professional chefs outside of Japan that understand the knives’ potential and how to properly use them.

 Japanese Knife Society (JKS) is an educationally oriented society.   Working through the skill and experience of Chef Mitsunori Ueda, JKS aims to teach people about the different styles of Wa-bocho, how to use them, how to care for them, and what makes them special.

 JKS hopes to positively contribute to the education of aspiring chefs, experienced chefs, and interested home cooks alike, through educational literature, pictures, blogs, videos, and events.  Through JKS gears its educational material towards working chefs, it will be assessable to anyone with an interest in learning about Wa-bocho.


And now some videos:

First up, Ueda-san demonstrates how to break down Fugu (the type of fugu in this video is torafugu):

Here, Ueda-san shows how to use a Kamagata usuba to cut long onions (and chives for that matter):

And, in this last video, Ueda-san covers some of the basics of katsuramuki, using a cucumber and yanagiba (he used a yanagiba despite the fact that the proper knife is an usuba or kamagata usuba... he explained that often times sushi chefs do this as a matter of convenience and he was just concerned with demonstrating the proper techniques here... he will do another video covering the same with an usuba):

Japan Trip 2011

Over the last few weeks, Sara and I have been planning this year’s Japan trip. This year, we will be spending two weeks meeting with the craftsmen we work with. I will also be spending a significant amount of time training with these guys… sharpening, blade polishing, handle replacement and repair, etc. During the time we are in Japan, our store in Venice, CA will be closed and we will not be shipping out any orders. However, you can still place orders online. All orders placed within the two weeks we are gone will ship on the Monday after we return.

This year, we will be leaving Los Angeles on September 17, 2011 and returning on October 2, 2011. Our store will close from September 16, 2011 and will reopen on October 3, 2011. All orders received on September 15, 2011 before 2pm PDT will ship before we leave. All orders placed on September 15, 2011 after 2pm PDT until October 3, 2011 will ship on October 3, 2011.

While in Japan, we do our best to still make ourselves available to our customers. We will have internet access for the majority of the trip and will be answering e-mails while we are there. We also have Skype if you feel more comfortable with that. We may not always pick up phone calls, but we will do our best to call back if we can. Here is our contact information while we are gone:

Jonathan Broida
E-Mail: Jon@JapaneseKnifeImports.com
Skype: 310-594-7802

Sara Motomura-Broida
E-mail: Sara@JapaneseKnifeImports.com

Last year, we did our best to take lots of pictures and update our blog as much as we could. This year, we intend to do the same. However, I will also try to shoot much more video this year… hopefully covering some cool sharpening techniques and knife skills.

Over the course of the two weeks we are there, we will be traveling to Tokyo, Sanjo (Nigata), and Sakai (Osaka). We will be spending time with craftsmen in various fields- blacksmithing, sharpening, handle making, etc.- as well as some chefs and other non-knife-related artists.

We thank you in advance for your understanding. If you have any questions or if there is anything we can do for you, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Broida and Sara Motomura-Broida

Two of Us in the Store

The opening of our store in Venice has been both exciting and all-consuming – leaving little time to work on our English blog. Finally, we are coming up for air and want to give you an update on us and our new storefront!

A few days back on Labor Day, I was more appreciative than usual about our great – and happy – connection to our shokunin-san (craftsman), business partners, customers, friends, and family. We all contribute in one way or another to our respective societies, and I thought how fortunate we all are to have such special relationships.

It’s September already, and I suddenly realized that it will be a relatively quick run from here to the end of the year - dashing through Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas, and New Years.

Our holidays offer the perfect opportunities for families and friends to gather, cook and share great food and stories around the table. We hope to make these times with loved ones even more joyful by providing knives and other kitchen tools of exceptional quality and craftsmanship. These special occasions remind us that our business is really based on the respectful and happy relationships we have with others, including you as you read this blog post. Thank you again for your support and encouragement!

Since opening our store – just a couple of months ago, we have had walk-ins and new customers from the local area, other parts of California, other states and nations who through word-of-mouth (the best kind of advertising!) found out about us. They have walked, biked, driven and even flown in to visit our store. They are excited about our expansion, bringing positive vibes and good wishes with them. We love, truly love our customers/friends. While it has always been our hope to create a community-like environment where people can come to talk, learn and get to know each other – we have been surprised how quickly it is happening!

More and more professional chefs are stopping by and reconnecting Jonathan to the restaurant world that he will always love. For me, this world is entirely new – most of the chefs are adrenalin junkies (and I used think that it was just Jonathan!) and yes, it’s all very fascinating. One of our greatest joys is to meet and get to know our customers personally. There is something very extraordinary about this experience. I have observed that chefs have an intense, emotional connection to knives. They need knives – not just as tools of their trade but as symbols of their status, prestige, skill and art. Many are truly addicted to knives! We are proud that our knives really do make cooking easier and enjoyable. But we are even more thrilled to see the immense satisfaction they bring to their owners. (Of course, we love all the amazing gastronomical creations of our chefs – I think Jonathan may be one of their greatest fans!)

In addition to our phenomenal customers, the fact that we are located in crazy, eccentric and free-spirited Venice makes the store experience even more complete and enriching. We are surrounded by walkers, joggers, bicyclists, artists and sometimes even the Transformer guy in his custom outfit! Main Street (we are located on Main at Windward) and Abbot Kinney are filled with incredible restaurants, galleries, and boutiques. The entire neighborhood is bohemian - always inspiring and unique. We look forward to the day when our JKI store is considered a landmark of Venice - a place where everyone is welcomed and gains an appreciation of the beauty and artistry of Japanese knives, pottery and culture.

Japanese Knife Imports- The Store

Great news guys... for a while now Sara and I have been looking for a place to open our storefront... to have a place where you can come and check out the knives and other products we sell in person, take classes on knife skills and knife sharpening, and just hang out... we finally found a place and signed the lease.  Its official... in just a few weeks we will be moving in and getting our store set up.  As the time gets closer, we will share some other new exciting things that we have been working on.  Anyways, we just wanted to share this exciting news with you guys.

A Message From Nakaya Heiji

Taking an Action

- Pray for Japan-

First of all, thank you again for taking an action to support Nakaya Heiji and their family.  We started collecting donation after the earthquake in Japan on March 11, 2011.  We were proud to have such thoughtful and caring customers, friends and families. 

We sent the entire donation to Nakaya Heiji last week, and it was safely transferred and received.  Here is a massage from Nakaya Heiji for all of you:

Thank you so much for your great support.  We are grateful that people around the world cared about us.  We can’t thank you enough for this donation. 

We have cleaned up our properties, including the store, workshop and house.  However, we still face aftershocks every day, and have been notified that even bigger aftershocks will come sometime soon. 

Under these circumstances, we have not been able to focus on our job – we have been preoccupied with cleaning, and strengthening, and reconstructing our buildings. 

We can’t thank you for your support, but we will do so by returning to our job and engaging in knife-making. 

Their home city, Mito, continues to face big aftershocks, and the radiation threat from the Fukushima nuclear plants.  However, they are staying strong and are reconstructing their places and their lives.  Our thoughts are with them, and we will continue to give you an update how they are doing. 

Here is a part of an email I sent to Nakaya Heiji in return – I think many people are feeling the same way: 

I am very glad that the donation was safely received.  We wanted to do something for you, as you have always been there for us.  We were fear stricken when we heard that you were affected by the 3.11 earthquake.   It made us feel very scared, sad, and pessimistic that we couldn’t do anything – anything we could do ourselves seemed so small and simply not enough. 

However, collecting donations really helped us – we gained hope again, and became somewhat positive in realizing that there was something we could do.  We were amazed and touched by the large number of our customers, friends, and family who participated in this.  Not only have they been generous, but they really care and they, too, wanted to do something.  So I thank you on behalf of everyone, for letting us do this for you. 

Northern Japan will never be the same after this tragedy.  But our thoughts are always with them, and as long as everyone works together, people will get through it.  Nakaya Heiji and his family, as well as everyone else who has been affected will hopefully be able to rebuild their homes and lives once again in the near future.. 

It has been over a month now, but Japan is still suffering.  It’s not over.  Nuclear plants are not stable yet, and continue to contaminate the area and the Earth with radiation.  This earthquake and tsunami claimed over 14, 000 deaths and 13,700 missing.  30,000 people left their homes for safer areas because their houses were destroyed, or their houses were too close to nuclear plants. 

Let’s keep doing what we can do to help and keep talking about it– after just a month, the news in the US has virtually stopped talking about it, and thus it has begun to fade away from people’s memory.  But the tragedy in Japan is ongoing, and they still need a lot of help, and probably will for many years to come.

Again, thank you so much to everyone who participated and everyone who continues to help out Japan in its time of need.  We are very happy that Nakaya Heiji and his family are moving in a positive direction and hope to see them back to making knives (which they really love) soon.