NKD a Hitohira Veggie Peeler (and a Nakagawa Silver #3 Gyuto)
I currently am on a quick 5-day stopover to Japan before heading out to my destination in SEA. I planned to visit Hitohira and then Baba Hamono (and other shops in Sakai if I have the time and able to walk in) to hopefully get a ginsan steel gyuto to replace and pare down my admittedly still a small collection of knives. I was blown away when one of the folks assisting me pulled this one out. It was the last one at the store too, he said. He also pulled another ginsan 240mm gyuto, but my eyes were immediately glued to this one so I had to get it. My wallet hates me now.
I also asked for a more reasonably-priced nakiri, which is a gift for my sister-in-law, and so they also showed me a few! I settled on a stainless clad blue #2 nakiri.
I truly did not expect this one to be available as it is OOS at their website. I was anticipating that I might have a slightly better chance at getting a ginsan gyuto at Baba Hamono. I will still visit tomorrow as I am in Osaka now, but I most likely will just buy a Kagekiyo petty to replace my current Tojiro, and then I will stop buying knives unless absolutely necessary (**we shall see lol).
Hitohira does not offer tax free purchases, which is understandable. I suppose this is why I was okay opening it at the hotel. They also did the final passes at stones to create the functional edge on the knife. The bonus y-peeler was much needed too, since I lost my current one due to being an idiot (I unknowingly tossed it in the compost pile along with the rest of the vegetable peels).
Another funny thing I noticed is that Hitohira codes as a "Restaurant" in my credit card transactions but hey, I'll take the 3x points!
My one regret is not catching the names of the 2 attendants that assisted me. I think one of them is the owner of the store? I will make sure to ask this the next time I visit, which I definitely plan to. This shop is a wonderful place with awesome people. I also need new stones at some point, which the shop seems to have a nice collection too... but damn they can get hella expensive too! 🫠
I will make sure to post better photos when I am back in my home kitchen which, unfortunately is still during the 1st week of May. I'm really excited to use this one!