One of the things I loved about my first trip to Japan in 2023 was the stationery. The selection there is bigger, better, more prevalent, and cheaper than what you’ll find in the US. I spent a lot of time and energy hitting up as many stationery stores as I could find, and also hitting up stationery sections in bookstores and convenience stores. (Yes, you can find good stationery in a Japanese 7-Eleven!) I bought a lot of pens and paper, especially since I had no idea when I’d be back. It could be years.
Of course my next trip would not even be a year later. And even though I bought a lot last time, I knew I was going to buy a bunch more again. But I wanted to be a little more methodical this time. While I knew I’d spend about half as much on things as I would if I purchased in the States, this time I made an aim for things that would be either harder to get here or couldn’t be found here at all. They love “limited edition” stuff in Japan, and many of the big stores will have exclusive colors and the like that could only be found at that shop. I did a bit of research before I left, probably too much. And here is what I got:
Fountain Pens and Gel Pens
Pilot Grance fountain pen, fine nib. $80 at Tokyo Hands, would be $140 in US
One of the primary things I wanted was another fancy-ish fountain pen, preferably one with a gold nib. The Pilot E95S was that big purchase last year. Since then I got my hands on a Metropolitan, which made me a Pilot fan. Getting another premium Pilot was a goal, as they are the Japanese Big Three Fountain Pen company to make the most affordable gold-nib pens. (Sailor and Platinum are the other two.) I first thought about getting a Custom 74, which sells for about $175 State-side. All the ones I see here are translucent “demonstrator” pens which really isn’t my style, but in Japan they have opaque resin versions. But I like metal bodies and if I’m going to spend a significant amount (to me) for a pen, I’d prefer something metal, preferably brass. So I found out about the Pilot Grance, which is on the slim side. They were sold here in the US for awhile, but JetPens no longer stocks them.1 The Grance got some decent reviews, but it seems like a lot of people’s preferences are for fatter pens made of resin or other non-metal material, so it never got hyped. (They also don’t like gold accents, whereas I do.)
I wasn’t sold on the light pastel colors I saw at Itoya, but Hands happened to have either dark blue or black, more my style. Another thing in Hands favor: Apparently Pilot did a 4000 yen ($25) price increase during my Japan trip. Itoya had the pen at the new, higher price, but Hands still had it at the older amount. (Hands has since increased the price.)
So far I like this pen a decent amount, though it feels like it needs a bit of a breaking in period. I find this interesting, as the E95S and Metropolitan wrote fine right off the bat. The pen has a great feel, and I do like the styling. I’ve been wanting a “fancy” pen for my desk, and I think this one fits the bill splendidly.
Hightide Attache Fountain Pen, fine point. $18 at Hightide, $40 in US
I love me a good pocket pen, and have a nice little collection of Kawecos, plus the aforementioned E95S and my Sailor “Bridgestone” (which also has a gold nib.) There was no real need for another, but pen collecting isn’t exactly rational, dig? The marbled look of the Attache pen caught my eye, and I was also intrigued by the screw-on cap that also screws on to post. The pen is a great writer, giving a nice line. It’ll definitely stay in the pocket pen rotation.
MUJI Polycarbonate Fountain Pen, fine point. $4 at MUJI, not available in the US
Japanese retailer MUJI has a location in Portland, and that’s where four years ago I got the first fountain pen that “spoke to me.” I’ve moved on from that pen. But MUJI Japan carries a mysterious white label, white color cheapie. While the body looks unfamiliar, the nib did: it’s a Platinum 03 nib typically found on the Preppy! Now the Preppy is possibly the best cheap refillable fountain pen (about $6), the clear body definitely announces its price point. I don’t like clear pens, so I picked up one of these, plopped in a Platinum black Carbon Ink cartridge, and off I went.
Sakura Craft Lab 001 Gel Pen. $38 at Itoya, $73 in the US
I have never been into gel pens, as the look of most of them do not excite me. This changed a few months back after I got a Zebra G-750 which is matte black and made of brass. I thought this was fancy enough for me, until I saw Sakura’s Craft Lab series. Sakura, the company behind Cray-Pas and Microns, isn’t known for fancy, so I guess this is their attempt to shake up things. The Craft Lab 001 is made of brass and acrylic, and has a classy but reserved look that I dig. The “knock” is actually a knob that turns to advance or retract the point, a knob that is supposedly inspired by old cameras. It also writes wonderfully. (Oh yeah, Itoya had an all-brass version that cost twice as much. As much as I love the idea of all brass, I think this pen is great enough as it is.)
Brush Pen
Kuretake Fountain Pen Ink Brush Pen, synthetic bristles. $11 at Seikado, $24 in the US
Last year I bought a Kuretake fountain pen ink brush pen that used natural bristles. This brass-bodied beauty is about the nicest brush pen you can buy, and I like it. But sometimes I find those natural bristles a bit too soft. It’s great for black fills and thick lines, not as good for finer points. So I wanted to get the synth bristle version, as there would be more control over the line. So I went to Sekaido in Shinjuku, a great art supply store where I got my last one. What I got looks very similar to the the Kuretake No. 13 found in the US, the big difference is what I got has a clear cap vs solid. No big deal. The brush pen works great! It’ll definitely live in my everyday carry art kit.
Other Art Pens
- Pilot Drawing Pen, alcohol based ink. I like this style pen as it’s basically a permanent marker with a fine tip. They are great for marking film canisters and the like. But these pens aren’t that easy to find here. JetPens used to sell these, but now they have just the regular pigment version. So I picked up a couple in Japan.
- I also grabbed the Centropen OHS Marker, which is basically the same as above, but Centropen is a Czech maker I hadn’t heard about before. (I’m sure that Jiri has!)
- And also got the Centropen Document 0.1, a nice pigment pen.
- All of the above cost $2 or less.
Mechanical Pencils
On this trip I decided to also delve more into mechanical pencils and fill some gaps in my collection. The Japanese sure do love their over-engineered drafting pencils, so why not sample some more?
Rotring Rapid 0.7. About $5 at Tokyu Hands, does not seem to be in the US
I wasn’t aiming for the less expensive, mostly plastic pencils, but this one caught my eye, as it has a retracting sleeve. I didn’t expect something like this in a pencil this cheap!
Staedtler 925-35 Limited Edition pencil, 0.5mm lead. $11 from Loft, $13-18 US equivalent
Despite my desire to find limited edition goods, this is the only one I picked up. The Staedtler 925-35 is a pretty standard and solid German drafting pencil, lacking the frills found in Japanese pencils–no sliding lead sleeve or rotating lead. But that’s okay. What makes this one special is it is a limited edition color of yellow-gold that can’t be found anywhere but Loft. I like how this writes and feels–the knurled grip area is just right.
Uni Shift Pipe Lock Drafting Pencil, 0.5 mm lead. $5.50 at Sekaido, $12.50 in US
I wasn’t planning on getting this one, but here it was at Sekaido, and at a good price. The big deal about this pencil is the “slide lock”, which means the lead sleeve (tip) will go inside the body when not using. This is a good thing, as lead sleeves can easily bend or break if the pencil is dropped. I haven’t had a chance to use this one yet.
OHTO Conception Mechanical Pencil, 0.5 mm lead. $8 at Sekaido, $22 in US
Finally, to close out my pencil haul, a fine overengineered specimen. The OHTO is pretty similar to my Platinum Pro-Use: you can choose between full sleeve to no, and from stiff lead (held firmly in place) to loose (where the lead can push back up into the pencil when writing, to make writing easier.) The OHTO lacks lead weight indicator but adds the ability to customize how much lead comes out with each click. I still think the Pro-Use is a bit better, as it has a nice and thick knurled grip, though the OHTO is all-metal. I’ll test this out and see how I feel.
PENCO Bullet Pencil. $4.75 at High Tide in Japan, $10 in US
I’ve used the PENCO bullet pen, both in the unfancy plastic and fancy brass, so discovering they had a pencil version made me excited. Now I’ll always have a pencil in my pocket!
Paper
This is where I held back. I got a decent amount last time, and checking my stores before the trip, I realize I have a lot. So it was not a priority. I got a few things, basically repeats of things I got last time, like Itoya notepads and Project Paper notebooks (waterproof paper, similar to Rite in the Rain.)
Where I splurged was two offerings from the Attache brand carried by High Tide: An A6 memo pad with a nice marbled cover lined with a grid (also known as section lines) that was letterpressed! This set me back about $10, which would have been $22 if I got it from the American store. Also purchased from High Tide was an Attache marbled cover sketchbook in B6 size that can be laid flat to create B5 spreads. This set me back $15. I don’t see it carried by the American store, but if it was, I’d assume it be twice as much!
Other
I saw this nice small stapler at High Tide, couldn’t resist buying it!
- When the Grance was sold here, it was a bit cheaper than the 74. But all the stores in Japan have the Grance and the 74 at the same price. ↩︎
Urban Adventure League 
Surprisingly, now I have no Centropen product at all! But I know this company, of course. I used their products as a university student (in late 90s) but not much after that. Maybe I should look at their current offerings!
I’ve heard people say Japan is the stationery capital of the universe..