Any quality Japanese style knife using VG10 or a similar steel will give you that edge.  Nice thing about Shun is that they have really good edges out of the box.

Remember that a gyutou is only for cutting soft things like veggie, fruit, and meat. If you need to chop things with bone, I'd pull out the cleaver instead.

I have a couple of lodge cast iron pans that I absolutely love. So much fun to cook with and they hold heat amazingly well. The only downside is that the 12 inch size is super heavy. Honestly I find them easier to maintain than a non-stick pan because I never have to wash it or worry about scratching the finish.

For knives, I don't think Shun is anything particularly special.  They are a fairly standard, mass produced, mid-high end knife. The Damascus is cool but there is no real performance advantage. The thing you have to think about the most is how careful you want to be with the knife. The sharpest knife will generally be the hardest knife and also the least durable. If you don't take care of a knife made out of really hard steel you will roll or chip the edge and it won't be sharp anymore (and is a pain to sharpen).

All knife metals are subject to the quality of the heat treatment, however I have had great experience with VG10 and S30v.  If you are looking for stainless steel that won't require a huge amount of maintenance but will take and hold one hell of an edge without breaking the bank, then I would start with a knife made of either of those steels.

I have a set of Wushtof Classics and they are fine for what I do, but they won't hold a hair shaving sharp edge very well. I have used Mac knives as well and I think they are great. If I recall they are cheaper than Shun and Global.

Shun knives are made on a large scale and are widely available. Nothing in their claim that contradicts that. I have no doubt they are hand made, but when you are distributing in large quantities across the world that product is being mass produced. All I am saying is that there is nothing that I have seen from Shun that makes them any better or worse than other similarly priced offerings (such as Mac).

I can understand that and that certainly isn't what I meant.  To be more clear Shun, Global, Mac fall into the category of mid-high end production knife to me.  They are all a high quality product and are produced on a large scale.  Most of them are using the same steel, which to me is a large portion of what you are paying for in a knife. That is why I say they are interchangeable. Your choice will mostly be based on design and ergonomics.

My scale is comparing those knives to the lesser known Japanese custom knife makers where the handmade knife you get is made by one person or in a small shop and the yearly production is much lower.  I went to a store one time and fondled knives that were hand forged in Japan and they blew me away.  They were somewhere between $200-$700, so they can be had for about the same price as a Shun.  I never made the leap and bought one because I didn't want the hassle that comes with them. To be fair I have never owned one of these knives but if I had to choose I would take one over a Shun.

Hope that clarifies things a bit better.  And yea I am probably too much of an enthusiast.