There were a lot of quality knife makers in Seki, Japan during the mid 60's to mid 80's and a lot of US Companies begn having knives made there and imported into the USA for sale. Names like Valor, Rigid, Kershaw, Sharp, Browning and many more. There were many gifted knife manufacturers like Ichiro Hattori, Tak Fukuota and others that were mostly unknown and now are revered. Great knives came out of that period, here are just a few.
Rigid RG45, Tak Fukuta, Browning 40181, Ichiro Hattori, Sharp 1000s & Star M, Ichiro Hattori, Valor 373 Tak Fukuta, Kershaw 1030, Ichiro Hattori
For more pictures, visit my store:
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/onehikes or my Website;
http://fitzwillies.com/
There are plenty of others, but I am just starting my quest.