Japan has a very long tradition for creating quality stationary products. They make high-quality papers, pens, pencils, scissors, other crafting / scrapbooking supplies, etc. You think of either German or Japanese products as being the high end in many cases. If you open your office supply cabinet you will also notice there are many Japanese brands that you may not have paid attention to either. Brands like Pilot, Uni-ball, Copic, Pentel, Zebra, etc., are all Japanese. Who doesn't like a good quality pen or mechanical pencil to boot!
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| Japanese gel ink pens |
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| Frixion pens with erasable ink. The ink is erased as it is heat sensitive and the rubbery eraser tips on these pens generate enough heat to vanish the ink. They have sets of multi-colour pens and even 2 or 3 color pens. |
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| Cool anime / souvenir themed pens and pencils |
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| Decorative tape dispensers on the left, cool folding mini-scissors in the middle, and the very popular stamp sets on the right |
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| Dragonquest slime paper weights, Cup Noodle note pad that folds into a cup of noodle, and an Evangelion notepad |
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| Harinacs stapleless stapler that uses pressure bonding. I have another stapleless stapler that punches a hole in the sheets and folds a paper flap, but this one leaves no holes. I gotta get one of these next time I'm over there. |
A visit to a stationary specialty store like Ito Ya in Ginza or the stationary department at a Tokyu Hands are a must on any visit to Tokyo. In recent years, manufacturers have developed erasers that have a multitude of sharp corners for erasing, or even truly erasable ink (Frixion brand from Pilot). The Japanese also developed decorative tapes for scrapbooking or cards, mechanical pencils that rotate the pencil lead so it is always drawing an even line, the first gel inks, and the non-rubber eraser. I myself like their stapleless staplers which are good for bonding a few sheets of paper together without metal staples sticking out.
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