You know, everyone loves to joke about the 1000 folded katanas and stuff, but the last three bladed things I bought are Japanese and everyone recommended them highly because the Japanese are known for making good blades. It's not like I went looking for these, people just said "Yeah, I use blahblah and it's Japanese and highly rated" and so on.
Chef's knife - kind of obvious
Garden Knife - Yep, it's a knife
Nail Clippers - they're blades, I guess

Seems like the Japanese have adapted to quality metal quite well.