The Shiroko or White Paper No.2 Steel Knife is made of fine Japanese Steel Company Hitachi's High Carbon Steel which comes extremely sharp, holds an edge well and is surprisingly easy to sharpen.
This means you can grind it to exceptional sharpness, which it retains for a long time. The blade is particularly suitable for the gentle preparation of foods though you need to take care in hand washing and drying this knife upon use.
Pat has said that if he could have but one knife in his kitchen for the rest of his life, this would be the one. If that isn't a stamp of approval, we don't know what is.