Japan (as are most Asian markets) for collectibles can be out of line with what others would expect to pay, as mentioned buyers tend to place a premium on high quality, scarce and exceptionally nice looking pieces to show off. Doesn’t hurt that the seller is likely to be the single person offering the item making them the market maker...and when you only have 1 to sell, you don’t need a whole herd of fools...just a select one.

At 9500, the pricing is well out of line in my opinion. As I said it’s scarce, so certainly helps resale, but scarcity is only one component in pricing. Lots of knives are scarce...you also have to have demand (always there with a Randall) and a few other factors.

There are plenty of eBay/craigslist sellers offering current production Randalls at a multiple of current catalog price...most who will point out the 5 year waitlist in their ad and call them “rare” - doesn’t mean their pricing is accurate...just means they went to the same school as the seller asking 9500.

Definitely a nice piece, and with provenance it would certainly command more than a Randall of similar vintage.