Which Knife Style Is Superior?

The difference between Japanese- and Western-

style knives used to be night and day. Western knives
had gently sloped, curved blades that came to a
point, with a relatively thick spine compared to their
length, and could rock on a cutting board. Japanese-
style knives had flat blades made for slicing and
chopping, not rocking, with a slender profile and a
relatively light weight.
These days, the divide is not so clear. Western
knife makers now offer santoku-style knives,
referring to the staple knife of the Japanese home
cook. Even knives with a Western shape have been
slimmed down and made lighter in response to a
growing market of folks used to the easier-to-
maneuver Japanese-style blades. Japanese knife
makers, on the other hand, have begun applying
their skills to gyutou, Western-style knives produced
with Japanese forging techniques to make what can
often be the best of both worlds.
So which style is the best? There is no right
answer to that. I first learned to cook with the
Western-style knives that everyone was using at the
time, so my early knife collection mostly consisted of
heavy German knives like Wüsthofs and Henckels.
But as I began experimenting with Japanese-style