JATAI

JATAI is older than most of the brands on this site, and its origin story has almost nothing to do with hair. Jatai International was set up in California in 1950 by Fred Wada as a liaison office to grow trade between Japan and the United States after the war; Wada also helped bring the Japanese swimming team to US national championships and later joined the committee for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The pivot into beauty came under Kay Obayashi, when the company began importing Japanese razors, first under the SORI brand from Shishido Cosmetics, then through Feather Safety Razor in Osaka, becoming Feather’s exclusive North American distributor, a relationship that still runs today.

More distributor than manufacturer

That history is the key to reading JATAI correctly. It’s based in Buena Park, California, and acts as a master distributor for Feather, Seki Edge, and Fuji Paper, alongside Du-Boa brushes and Seki Edge personal-care items. Its own house scissor line, JATAI Scissors by BMAC, is handcrafted in Japan and built on VG-10, a stainless grade that holds a fine edge well across both cutting and thinning models. So while JATAI sits filed under Japan here for where its shears are made, the company itself is a long-running California importer with deep Japanese sourcing.

Range and extras

The shear catalogue covers cutting and thinning scissors plus razors and accessories, with listed strengths across blunt cutting, texturizing, weight removal, volumizing, layering, shaping, and movement control. A notable footnote: in 1991 JATAI and Feather co-developed the Feather Styling Razor with a patented blade guard, which the brand credits with reviving salon razor work when razors had largely fallen out of favor. The company also runs JATAI Academy, an online library of instructional videos.

Sales go through jatai.net across North America, with pricing in the mid-range band, roughly $200 to $400. See the Japan brands hub for related makers.