Global

Yoshida Metal Industry Co. Ltd. was established in 1954 as a western tableware manufacturer in Niigata prefecture, producing hollow handled table knives for Western markets. In 1960 Yoshikin introduced the Bunmei series of knives, traditional Japanese-looking knives that used a new alloy steel, able to be sharpened like carbon steel, but with a mixture of molybdenum and vanadium that made the steel more resistant to rust (now known colloquially as Japanese steel). In 1983, Yoshikin hired a Japanese industrial designer, Komin Yamada, to create a knife design that combined these two manufacturing techniques. GLOBAL began its international expansion under Yuzo Watanabe in Japan in 1985.

In 2006, the G Series knives were placed #46 on the Japanesque Modern Committee listing. In the years since GLOBAL has continued to come out with new lines of knives including the SAI line, the UKON line and most recently the GLOBAL NI line in 2015. Currently, the GLOBAL NI line is the most recent line of knives released for sale to the public.