Japanese Chef Knives have taken over the knife market. They are beautiful knives and are made of several layers of steel beaten down to a fine point. They are a soft blade making them sharper and easier to sharpen than German. Their handles are usually metal as well. Most Japanese brands have no bolster so they are a lot lighter.  I find the lack of bolster and a smaller tang throws off the balance, but like I stated earlier I like heavy knives. So handle a German and Japanese side by side and find which fits your hand better. The more popular Japanese Chef Knives are  Misono, Masahiro, Masamoto, and Shun

Come back for part 4 and read about who has the strongest knife blade.

This image is from http://hubpages.com/hub/How_to_sharpen_your_kitchen_knives

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