Should you want to perfect a piece of metal leave it to the Japanese. Best cast iron pan I ever used.I did season it once and may season once or twice again, although the pan looked ready to use out of the box. I washed it with a soft brush and steaming water, dried on the stove, applied very thin layer of grape seed oil and stuck the pan upside down into a 450-500F grill for an hour while baking potatoes.Polished much smoother than Lodge or most pans, true non-stick. Water and oil droplets bead. Cooked a couple of omelettes and sauteed steelhead and orange roughy- came out great, better than in any other pan. Nothing stuck, was easy to flip. The trick was to preheat the pan to 300F. Lodge always had stuck eggs and fish no matter how many times I seasoned it. Large enough to prepare 4-5 egg omelettes with veggies or 4+ jumbo eggs.Tried 6 large eggs with 3 oz of dashi, mirin and soy and lots of veggies- still came out great. Nice and fluffy with every rolling layer of eggs and colorful veggies distinctly displayed. 275-300F seem to be the temp for tamagoyaki or anything, but I like eggs browned a bit. 250F should make an all- yellow tamago.The bottom is perfectly flat. Just the right thickness so the pan stops cooking and browning but keeps the food warm shortly after the heat source if turned off.Came with a users booklet in Japanese only but was easy to translate with Google Translate app.Few cautions from the manufacturer: when using on an induction plate warm the pan gradually. I set my cook top at 100F, few min later at 175F, then raised the temp to 275 and 300F. Super rapid heating from an induction top is not so good for cast iron.Metal spatulas may scratch baked in oil layers and will need re-seasoning, but I use wood anyway.Also beware of Chinese cheaper knock offs: they are not nearly as good and do not work as well.A lot of skillful hand time goes into making of this pan. The $65 bucks is inexpensive compared to other US made high end cast iron pans I saw. In Japan this pan sells for around $50, so we pay $15 more for freight and taxes. Feel it's good value since the pan is a pleasure to use and It will last decades.
