Editorial Team
Editorial Team
Japanese Knife Lab is run by a small Tokyo-based editorial team. Trust in our reporting starts with knowing who wrote it.
Editor-in-Chief
Takuya Ueda — Editor-in-Chief
Tokyo, Japan
Founder and editor-in-chief of Japanese Knife Lab. Based in Tokyo, he leads hands-on knife testing, Kappabashi sourcing, and editorial oversight for the site.
He has studied Japanese knives for more than a decade, with repeated field visits to Sakai, Seki, Echizen, Tsubame-Sanjo, and Tosa. Conversations with bladesmiths, interviews with specialist shop owners, and personal use-testing in his own kitchen are the starting point for every article on the site.
- Location
- Tokyo
- Joined
- Spring 2026 (site launch)
- Languages
- Japanese (native)
English (business)
Role
Knife testing, Kappabashi sourcing, editorial oversight, head of fact-checking, corrections.
Contact
Contributing Reviewers
We are bringing on contributing reviewers to support the editor-in-chief on fact-checks and field reporting. Every contributor's article still passes through editor-in-chief review before publication.
Contributing Reviewer #1
Seki / Echizen bladesmith reporting
To be announced during 2026. Will lead field reports on forging traditions in Seki and Echizen.
Contributing Reviewer #2
Professional chef / pro-kitchen reviews
To be announced during 2026. Will cover knives in the context of professional Japanese and Western kitchens.
Translation & multilingual workflow
Japanese Knife Lab publishes in Japanese, English, French, and German. We maintain quality across languages through the following workflow.
Japanese / English
Written directly by the editor-in-chief. English versions are either translated by him or reviewed by a native English editor before publication.
French / German
Translated by professional translators, then reviewed by a native-language editor. AI tools are only used to assist with initial drafts, not final copy.
Conflict of interest disclosures
When members of the team have personal or commercial relationships with a shop, manufacturer, or bladesmith, we disclose it here.
- • Editor-in-chief (Ueda): no commercial relationship with any specific Kappabashi shop. He shops at several Kappabashi retailers as an individual customer.
- • At the time of writing, no member of the editorial team receives payment or ongoing sponsorship from a knife manufacturer or retailer.
- • If this changes, the change date and details will be added to this section.