Japanese tanto blades have a very particular type of edge shape. The edge at the tip is at a very obtuse angle to the point itself, and then curves sharply to form the body of the edge. This creates one edge that is almost like two edges, an edge line at the tip that is at about a 45 degree angle to the spine, and an edge that is parallel with the spine.

Americanized tantos are similar, but the two edges are not joined by a curve, but rather and abrupt point. Here is an Emerson Super CQC7.

If you could not picture what I was talking about in the first paragraph, just take the Emerson and give it a straighter spine and make the edge have a strong curve instead of the second point.

Tantos are said to be stronger at the tip than other blade shapes. This is bunk. A drop point with an equally thick point (in terms of blade thickness and point thickness) would be just as strong. It is just that most tantos create a wider tip since the smaller edge jets out at such a wide angle. However, other knives that does this are just as strong. Having that edge come to a point does not make the tip stronger.

Some real advantages of an American tanto are that you can have two different bevel angles. The smaller edge can have a thick angle for heavy duty work, scraping, prying etc… and the longer edge can be sharper for cutting tasks. Also, the point created by the two angles is very aggressive when cutting, but not as delicate (for clean slicing) as a belly would be.