
The cutting-edge of cutting: How Japanese scissors have evolved (2018) - _Microft
https://asia.nikkei.com/Life-Arts/Life/The-cutting-edge-of-cutting-How-Japanese-scissors-have-evolved2
======
acl777
Japan being a world leader in scissors does not surprise me after listening to
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History episode on Japan:

[https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-
history-62-supern...](https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-
history-62-supernova-in-the-east-i/)

Dan brought insight into Japan that I did not have, explaining that Japan is a
society of extremes. For Japan to be world leader in anything the Japanese
society sets their mind to does not surprise me at all now.

(side note: I worked and lived in Japan for seven years and my wife is
Japanese too. I thought I knew what Japanese people were, but Dan's
explanation crystalized what being Japanese is for me.)

~~~
derefr
I would more describe this as a natural extension of a large artisanal
tradition of sword-makers—swords at one point being as common in Japan as guns
are in America today, unlike most of Europe where the average personal-carry
weapon was a knife. There were tons of swordsmiths around to fill all that
demand (and no automation to let just a few swordsmiths fill it); and the
descendants of all those sword-makers still have some of that knowledge, and
nothing useful to do with it (there being only so much demand for decorative
and ceremonial swords today to sustain a few swordsmiths.) So what do they
turn their knowledge of swordsmithing to? Making tinier pieces of metal sharp
using the same techniques. Like scissors. Or fountain-pen nibs.

Or just using those skills to entertain, like this guy:
[https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nek3wk/rice-kitchen-
knife...](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nek3wk/rice-kitchen-knife-kiwami-
japan-youtube)

~~~
sandworm101
The legend of Japanese swordmaking is much overplayed. Swords were common, but
swordmaking wasn't. Swords were far more valuable in japan due to the lack of
some basic resources (metals). Japanese swords were therefore passed down
rather than destroyed, as opposed to viking culture where swords were often
buried. So a smaller pool of Japanese sword makers making a relatively small
number of swords could supply a larger population.

Japanese swords are also much softer than enthusiasts like to admit. They are
very pure carbon+iron steel but that is limiting. Again, due to nature of the
available resources, Japanese sword makers did not utilize other elements,
impurities, that strengthen steel beyond what can be done with iron+carbon.
And all that famous folding was not unique to Japan. The average viking sword
demonstrates much the same level of craftsmanship, at least in terms of the
actual steel. Japanese swords are certainly better looking but they were never
the magical objects often portrayed.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damascus_steel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damascus_steel)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wootz_steel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wootz_steel)

"For reasons that are not entirely clear, but possibly because sources of ores
containing trace amounts of tungsten and/or vanadium needed for its production
were depleted, the process was lost to the middle-eastern metalsmiths around
1750. It has been eagerly sought by many since that time."

[https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/d/Damasc...](https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/d/Damascus_steel.htm)

~~~
tzs
> Japanese swords were therefore passed down rather than destroyed, as opposed
> to viking culture where swords were often buried

It should be noted that viking swords were often also passed down even _after_
being buried, due to the lovely part of the viking wedding ceremony where the
groom presents an ancestral sword from his family to the bride, to keep in
trust until they have a son to take it [1].

That sword was often obtained by making the groom take it from the grave of an
ancestor it was buried with.

That makes me wonder why the sword was buried in the first place. Most
cultures that bury a person with their possessions seem to do so because they
believe that the items will be needed by the person in the afterlife.

But if vikings buried your grandfather with his sword because they believed he
needs it in the afterlife, it seems odd that they would later make you take it
for your wedding and leave the old man defenseless against his afterlife foes.

[1]
[http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/wedding.shtml](http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/wedding.shtml)

~~~
dmix
> That makes me wonder why the sword was buried in the first place.

Probably some ritual related to "entering" heaven. Similar to putting coins on
the eyes of the dead. Maybe they won't need it after a period of time?

------
jdietrich
IMO these novel scissors don't really represent the achievements of Japanese
scissor-making. The market for high-quality hairdressing and barbering
scissors and tailoring shears is now almost completely dominated by Japanese
manufacturers.

There are two makers left in Sheffield (William Whitely and Ernest Wright), a
handful remain in Solingen, but Japan has dozens of high-end scissor
manufacturers. It's a remarkable niche success story, built on a careful
combination of design innovation and traditional craftsmanship.

~~~
wahnfrieden
30 min documentary that goes into these sort of artisanal scissors in Japan:
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd_ySi7mjeE](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd_ySi7mjeE)

~~~
Bayart
Well thank you, I know feel compelled to spend unnecessary amounts of money.

------
hudibras
I watched a TV program here in Japan a couple weeks ago where the panelists
were all senior executives from stationery companies. The executives were
asked about, in various categories (pens, paper, staplers, etc.), which of
their competitors had the best product. For scissors, they all raved about the
Plus Fitcut Curve (mentioned in the article). They are the best scissors you
can buy for less than 10 dollars.

[https://www.amazon.com/Plus-Curve-Scissors-
Large-35060/dp/B0...](https://www.amazon.com/Plus-Curve-Scissors-
Large-35060/dp/B00KXFTIC8)

~~~
nihonde
I think the article mentions that these are made in Seki city, in Gifu
prefecture. Seki is famous for knife makers and they have a really neat knife
festival with a street market. If you’re into that kind of thing, it may be
worth visiting. If nothing else, you can get a sense of how traditional Japan
manifests in these little industrial enclaves in small town Japan.

~~~
harisenbon
Note that if you don’t go during the festival, the downtown is pretty much
dead. There is a nice knife shop that caters to tourists (刃物センター blade center)
but the festival is definitely the best part of the year.

~~~
magduf
The big problem I see with being a tourist and going to this thing is that
you'll have to pay to have your knife purchases shipped home (or pay a hefty
checked-baggage fee), since you can't bring sharp blades in carry-on luggage.

~~~
kilbuz
In this hypothetical trip to Japan, with airfare, lodging, food, drink, local
transportation, and luxury knife purchases (including duty), a 25 USD checked
bag fee is 'hefty' and a 'big problem'?

~~~
com2kid
Try traveling without checked bags sometime. For part of your stay, get an
AirBnB that has laundry facilities.

Only having a single small roller bag (or less, I know people who just have a
single backpack!) makes travelling a lot easier. I often miss being able to
bring stuff home in checked luggage, but I love getting off an airplane and
not having to wait for my baggage, or worry if I'll be in the 1% that doesn't
get my bag back!

As an example, I landed early morning in London, walked off the airplane, went
through customs, and got right on public transit, then right to a tiny cafe
and had some breakfast.

Could I do that with a giant checked suitcase? Sure. Maybe. But it'd suck. And
the first thing on my mind would be getting to lodging to drop off my bag.
Landing at 9am and having a giant bag I need to drag around until 2pm or
whenever check-in time is means a large chunk of my first day is ruined, and I
get to repeat all that after a 10am checkout dragging a big bag around until
it is time to go to the airport and fly back home.

Bonus: in Japan, with only a small roller bag, taking public transit to/from
the airport becomes very doable at any time of the day.

tl;dr smaller bags mean simpler logistics for the entirety of a trip.

~~~
magduf
Exactly; this is the only way I travel now. I have two backpacks, a large
"travel backpack" that fits in carry-on, and a smaller one that holds my
laptop and some other stuff and fits under the seat in front of me. The
smaller one clips onto the larger one when I need to carry it around, and then
when I've left the large one at my hotel/hostel, it becomes my daypack to hold
a raincoat, souvenirs, brochures, etc.

In many places, hotels have laundry facilities. Every place I stayed in Japan
had them, so it was easy to just bring enough clothes for 4 days and do
laundry every so often.

I'll also add that any kind of roll-around luggage is a giant PITA if you're
in Europe, because the streets and sidewalks are largely cobblestones.

~~~
com2kid
> In many places, hotels have laundry facilities.

In most countries I have visited, the laundry facilities are cost prohibitive
and the cost of 4 days of laundry is greater than the hotel bill!

Super cool if you found a place that had free laundry services!

~~~
magduf
In Japan, every hotel or hostel has laundry, and you can do a full load for
Y400 or less. There's also coin-op laundromats with similar prices. It isn't
free, but it isn't expensive by any means, it's probably cheaper than using a
coin locker to lock your suitcase so you don't have to lug it around all day
until the hotel lets you check in.

In Europe, many smaller hotels have laundry on-site you can ask to use, or
again you can use coin-op laundromats which aren't that expensive.

What countries did you visit that were "cost prohibitive" for doing laundry?

~~~
com2kid
China was a no-go, the major hotel I stayed at in Suzhou was incredibly nice,
had a great price on the room, and an expensive per-piece laundry service. The
tiny hotel I stayed at in Beijing didn't have laundry facilities for guests.

Shinjuku Prince in Tokyo also had the usual high per-piece laundry rates. I
don't 100% recall but I think the Ryokan I stayed at was similar.

I AirBnB'd through the UK, so I didn't have to worry about it. Same thing in
Mexico, didn't bother with hotels.

Throughout the US it is a no-go of course.

~~~
magduf
It sounds like you're staying at expensive hotels.

I just spent 2 weeks in Japan. The locally-owned hotels had laundry on-site
usually. This isn't full-service laundry; this is a coin-op machine on the
ground floor that you use yourself. The one I used at a very new hotel in
Osaka (Sarasa in Dotenbori) was really nice; you just put your Y400 in and
come back in an hour or so, as it does both washing and drying. At hostels, it
varies, but one I stayed at just charged me Y100 to wash a load, but they
didn't have a dryer so I had to walk down the street and pay Y200 to dry it.

Did you even look at laundromats? If you're expecting hotel staff to do your
laundry for you, then you're not going to get that cheap in almost any
country, certainly not any industrialized one.

~~~
com2kid
> Did you even look at laundromats?

AirBnB + Filter on Laundry is easier. :-D Don't have to take time out of the
day and all that.

The Ryokan was mid-tier, nothing fancy. Went to three cities, 2nd one was
AirBnB with washer+dryer available, so everything was washed there.

~~~
magduf
Ryokan are known to be expensive. Business hotels are much, much cheaper. And
yes, AirBnB is a good option too. When I was searching for hotels on
booking.com and travelocity.com, I was able to see which ones had laundry
there too.

------
veidr
I clicked through to this article because I recently bought some scissors from
Amazon here in Japan. I didn't do any comparisons or anything, I just chose a
cheap model from the first page of results.

I am not like a heavy scissors user, I was just sick of not being able to find
the scissors, so I wanted a couple extra around the house.

And then they were delivered and I was like HOLY SHIT THESE SCISSORS ARE
AMAZING!!!! And I quite literally told five or six people about these
scissors, just because I was so astonished how well they cut things. I didn't
know scissors went to this level.

Sure enough, the kind I bought is referenced in the article (the one with pink
handles in the photo). Nakabayashi's Hikigiri model.

¥432 at Amazon Japan (about $4.00). Amazing.

[https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B00NATJ7R0/ref=ppx_yo_dt...](https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B00NATJ7R0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1)

~~~
j-conn
Tried replacing “.co.jp” with “.com” and it worked, to my surprise. Price
changes to $25.56 though (with “free shipping”)
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NATJ7R0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NATJ7R0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1)

------
carterschonwald
Some of these are incredibly sharp!

The titanium coated one they have in one picture (gold tinted blade) is one I
got via jetpens.com and via an incident with them sliding along a plastic tab;
I got my first stitches ever, 3 stitches from a cut adjacent a joint of the
right pointer finger. (Fall 2018 at the tender age of 30. )

My recommendation: only use normal scissors on paper, for every thing else use
a scissor with the grippy micro serrations for a safer / better time.

In the kitchen the oxo brand scissors are great. For random plastic stuff like
the dreaded plastic clamshell I take the nuclear route of using a compound
action tin snips! Makes plastic or sheet metal cut like melted butter. And way
safer ;)

~~~
blacksmith_tb
Ouch! Personally I consider all the TiNi coated scissors and knives to be
basically a sham, the coating doesn't make the tool sharper, just harder to
sharpen when it begins to dull. Though on scissors it may make the blades a
little less likely to pick up adhesive from tape (I have seen some Japanese
scissors with a PTFE coating for that too).

~~~
carterschonwald
yeah, i think they're marketed mostly as "less likely to get glues stuck".
Sure look pretty though! ;)

------
jwong_
Side tangent - I was in a hotel channel surfing when I came across an NHK
program called Japanology. They have a great episode on scissors here as
mentioned several times in this thread. It's become my only regular source of
tv for the past year since it's all very homey feeling. LUNCH ON is my
favorite since half the show isn't even about lunch but just small businesses
or municipal organizations.

------
kumarvvr
Whatever Japan does, it does extremely well. I bought a 0.1 mm nib size
fountain pen in Japan last year. I expected it to be rough and unevenly
release ink, considering how thin the nib is, but was pleasantly surprised at
how good the pen was. It was a delight to use. It works smoother than my
parker fountain pens, which I thought were pretty good.

~~~
sonnyblarney
Have you tried a Sony product lately? [1]

They are capable of 'world class' things, which is more than most nations can
say, but like everything 'it depends'.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyCtaciiM8Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyCtaciiM8Y)

~~~
magduf
Sony isn't really Japanese any more, it's a multinational corporation with
operations in many places, including the US. This is like trying to claim that
Ford cars are all-American (they aren't, they're largely made in Mexico, and
they have a large European subsidiary too).

------
edna314
Wow, I didn’t even know I had a thing for scissors, but seems like I totally
fell in love with the one that looks like a pen.

~~~
Razengan
Japan has a knack for turning mundane stationery items into collectible pieces
of art and creative engineering.

Some nice YouTube show-and-tells got me fascinated with that subculture (yes,
a legit subculture around stationery.)

~~~
edanm
Do you have any specific YouTube videos to recommend?

~~~
Razengan
Japanology’s [https://youtu.be/pgPxgJMW5A8](https://youtu.be/pgPxgJMW5A8) and
more in search.

~~~
dcchambers
They have an episode on scissors too!
[https://youtu.be/Gd_ySi7mjeE](https://youtu.be/Gd_ySi7mjeE)

------
trymas
Begin Japanology - Scissors

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd_ySi7mjeE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd_ySi7mjeE)

~~~
vanderZwan
This part of the article:

> _There is another trend in Japan 's scissors world, one in which new ideas
> are being applied to cutting performance. Cutting ability is not determined
> by sharp edges alone. Blade shape, the angle at which the blades come
> together and how the blades move against each other also significantly
> impact performance._

... immediately brought to mind proud Japanese designers doing their best to
make scissors in the swordsmithing tradition of Japanese katana's and whatnot.

Nine minutes and five seconds into your linked video[0] it actually mentions a
former swordsmith-turned-scissormaker from the late 19th century who applied
his understanding of sword making to make better blades.

Oh Japan, how I love that reality is often better than the stereotypes about
you <3

(also hate it when it's about a negative thing, but in this case it's great)

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd_ySi7mjeE&t=9m5s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd_ySi7mjeE&t=9m5s)

------
vr46
Heh, I am a fan of Japanese stationary and I have a Pencut in my bag at all
times. It's excellent. I also have a Sheffield-made pair from Ernest Wright in
the kitchen. Horses for courses.

------
jeandenis
I am going to drop this here at the risk of down voting: Japanese nail
clippers are world class (much like their scissors).

I've had the same pair, somehow, for 11 years. And to this day using them is
delightful. Weird thing to say about clipping nails, but given the frequency
of that activity, it's worth noting.

So next time you're in Japan doing all of the culture, and sight seeing, and
eating, spend 5m to go to a pharmacy and treat yourself.

------
malingo
I've always been impressed by these one-piece Japanese thread scissors:
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WXIRPU0](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WXIRPU0)
Very quick to grab with one hand and make a cut. No hinge; just elastic
deformation of the steel.

~~~
Obi_Juan_Kenobi
My favorite part about thread snips like this is that I can actually use them;
standard thread scissors have finger holes that are too small for many men to
use.

------
tmd83
There seems to be almost too many options with each having some features that
I don't truly understand. What would everyone recommend for an all around
usage for scissors and even for a knife? I often have problems with scissors
not cutting things for whatever reason.

~~~
challenger22
If you have issues with fine cuts (like fishing line or tissue paper) the
scissors on a victorinox swiss army knife work very well. Get a 91mm size
knife for scissors that aren't laughably tiny, but only smallish.

On the opposite side, tough items, like leather or pennies (!) can be cut with
EMT shears.

~~~
hestipod
Victorinox built in scissors are great. I use mine on a Classic all the time.
They will send you a few replacement springs for free if you ask. It's the
only problem I have ever had and that's after years and years of abuse.

------
kazinator
Surprisingly absent:
[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=japanese+%22thread+scissors%22&t=h...](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=japanese+%22thread+scissors%22&t=h_&iax=images&ia=images)

------
TedHerman
Worth mention: Craft Design Scissors
[https://www.shopkanso.com/products/craft-design-
technology-s...](https://www.shopkanso.com/products/craft-design-technology-
scissors)

------
umanwizard
Genuinely curious, why are Japanese people cutting things so often that this
became a thing?

All I own is one absolute garbage pair of scissors, and I use them so rarely
that it doesn’t really matter. I don’t think I’m an outlier, in the US.

~~~
impendia
It's not an isolated example. There is a perfectionist streak in Japanese
culture, which you can observe if you study any of their traditional arts
(karate, tea ceremony, etc.) This shows up in the quality of some of their
consumer goods.

As another example, there was a Japanese chalk company (Hagoromo) which has
unfortunately gone out of business, but which built up a fanatical following
among mathematicians. I am a mathematician myself, and I found their chalk to
be noticeably superior to anything which I'd previously tried.

~~~
wlesieutre
A South Korean company bought some of Hagamoro's machines and is making chalk
branded as "Hagamoro Fulltouch". I haven't used it but I've heard it's still
good.

[http://en.sejongmall.co.kr/category/full-
touch%ED%83%84%EC%8...](http://en.sejongmall.co.kr/category/full-
touch%ED%83%84%EC%82%B0%EB%B6%84%ED%95%84/48/)

~~~
impendia
Yes! It is. Happily, the buyers have (more or less) maintained the quality of
the original.

------
snvzz
A beautiful display of the consequences of kaizen[0].

[0]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen)

------
bayareanative
ProTip: junky scissors can be sharpen by cutting aluminum foil.

------
Traubenfuchs
I don't want to use any of those scissors. I want slim, plain, metal-only
scissors kind of like this:

[https://www.amazon.de/dp/B001U57C50/](https://www.amazon.de/dp/B001U57C50/)

I hate plastic (grips), I hate uneven grip holes, I hate protruding elements,
I hate uneven blades, I hate blunt blade tips, I hate safety features.

~~~
me_me_me
then buy those
[https://www.amazon.de/dp/B001U57C50/](https://www.amazon.de/dp/B001U57C50/)

who cares about things you don't like?

~~~
Razengan
Don’t you see? The things I do not like should not ever be made, or be talked
about, unless it’s for me to pronounce my dislike and lack of need for them.

~~~
klez
> he things I do not like should not ever be made [...]

Wait, when did they say that? They only expressed their opinion on the kind of
scissors they prefer to use and that they would never use them.

I mean, yeah, it was not a great comment, but the reactions here (not only
you, another commenter did the same) seem pretty off the charts for what it
was.

