VIP behind-the-scenes experience!
My girlfriend motivated me to join the Sakai knife factory walking tour, and to be honest, I’m not really into knives and not a big fan of walking either...BUT it was actually super interesting and felt really authentic, plus, there wasn’t too much walking! It’s totally way off the usual tourist track, and among other things we did during that tour, walking into the knife workshop really felt like a special VIP behind-the-scenes experience :)
Authentic and informative.
Really interesting look around a small knife making company with a demonstration of knife-sharpening technique. Of course you can buy knives and we found them much better priced than in Tokyo. There's also a visit to a local knife museum and a random but interesting diversion to an authentic old shop selling the local sweet delicacies. The tour guide was knowledgeable and fun.
One reservation: if you buy a knife you will need to go and grab some lunch and wait around for a couple of hours before it is finished off and engraved for you, so plan for the whole morning and half the afternoon. We had another place to be so had to return the next day to collect.
