Fountain Pens: Starting Young

The mailman brought a breeze of fresh air on Saturday. No matter the enticement of lush green outside my windows, August is ablaze in eastern Florida and days are defined by heat, humidity and mosquitos ready to pounce. Happily, a good part of all that was relieved by the arrival from a longtime Tokyo friend, of the latest issue of Stationery Hobby Box (Shumi no bungu bako). Since leaving Japan a few years back, Kumiko has never missed sending the magazine as quickly as a new issue appears on bookstore shelves. Volume 26 came out in June and like every issue contains over 150 glossy pages of articles and photographs highlighting fountain pens, ink and paper, pencils and a few dozen other stationery-related products.

The bold black copy on the cover this time suggests that people want to write with fountain pens (mannenhitsu de kakitai) and in Japan that is a not an exaggeration. Related to that idea is the magazine’s feature article about eight people who treasure their fountain pens and use them as a daily tool. Among them is a film producer, a stylist, a couple of businessmen, a teacher, and a high school student.

Yûdai Kamei is a seventeen year-old high school student in the Tokyo suburb of Saitama who got his first fountain pen in the third grade. Since that early age his enthusiasm has been nourished by parents who share to some extent their son’s interest in fountain pen history and quality writing instruments. How many fathers take their son on a summer holiday with the specific aim of browsing pen shops?

Yûdai’s collection of fountain pens now numbers ten. The article offers no listing of exactly what those pens are, but looking closely at the photos it is easy to spot a Montblanc Meisterstück 146 Doué, Pelikan 800, Pelikan M200 Demonstrator, Pelikano Junior, Pilot Custom 742, Lami Safari, Lami AL-Star, Platinum 3376 Century and two others difficult to distinguish, though one is a Montblanc. The photograph below shows his stated favorite, the Meisterstück 146 Doué, a gift from his parents at the time he entered high school.

Below the fountain pen in the photo is a bottle of Sailor Jentle Ink and a page from Yûdai’s school notes. The bottle of ink is Miyougi Amber bought on the above mentioned summer pen-trip with his father. The color is reflected in the brown ribbon running down the bottle from cap to base and again at the bottom of the page to the right. The ink is one he first saw in the August 2011, vol. 20 issue of Shumi no bungu bako. To the right is a page of school notes from the morning newspaper, different articles distinguished by a different ink. 

As a way of trial and error, Yûdai uses his journal to get a feeling for his pens used with different inks, a natural extension for any fountain pen aficionado striving to better understand a specific pen or ink. The photo shows a sample of writing with the Pelikan 800 and the Sailor Miyougi Amber ink.

Born in Saitama Prefecture in 1996, Yûdai is currently in the 11th grade and his favorite subject is government economy. Apart from fountain pens, his interests include cars and leather goods. He is also an avid reader, getting through about two books a week.

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For those who deny themselves nothing in the way of fine writing instruments, a full page advertisement in this latest issue of Stationery Hobby Box offers the new Montblanc Paul Klee Limited Edition fountain pen for a mere $28,643. ‘Limited Edition’ in this case means Montblanc made only seventy-nine of them.

Stationery Hobby Box No. 21

A Christmas present from Japan arrived yesterday, a compact and glossy 152 pages in the delightful shape of Stationery Hobby Box (Shumi no bungu bako), Volume 21. There’s a good and a bad side to sitting in Florida reading each issue of this magazine three times a year. Compare it to a thirsty man looking at photos of a gurgling stream or rivers of clear water. There are probably few cities in the world as rich in stationery goods as Tokyo, and a good part of that wealth is lavishly displayed in the pages of Stationery Hobby Box. Wise to keep a handkerchief handy when I’m reading, something to catch the drool that threatens to fall from my open mouth.

Each issue of the magazine is comprehensive in its coverage of stationery goods, designers, specialists and stores devoted to the hobby, always including two or three special articles that focus on a particular pen company or penmeister, ink, or as in No. 21, an article on the history of Tonbow pencils. The cover of the latest issue shows a photo of the fountain pen favored by fashion designer Karl Lagerfield, a new design from S.T. Dupont dubbed Mon Dupont. One feature article unrelated to the Dupont is, in loose translation “Pen and Ink, Never Enough.” Ink samples, ink catalogs, discussions and essays on the same are terrific, but in most cases my interest recently has leaned toward coverage of people who spend their days writing with either pen, brush or pencil, and those articles with a focus on the history of certain stationery items.

Hikozô Akamatsu spends his days designing titles for movies and other media. A few of the movie titles designed by Mr Akamatsu are Shall We Dance, Waterboys, Hanabi, No Longer Human and Unagi. The first title may be familiar from the Hollywood adaptation starring Richard Gere, but these titles are naturally all for Japanese films. The photo on the right above shows the artist in his studio, and the top left a series of studies for his work on No Longer Human—reading from top to bottom Ningen shikaku. Once again, this title is perhaps familiar from Dazai Osamu’s classic 1948 novel. The work done by Mr Akamatsu was for a 2010 film version. One part of the Hobby Box article tells us that his favorite fountain pen is a Montblanc Meisterstück 149.

Another article in the new issue that caught my eye is one on the history of Tonbow pencil manufacture in Japan. The Japanese take their pencils very seriously and even young elementary school students study the types and varieties available in their neighborhood stationery stores. The photo above shows eight different one-dozen boxes of pencils made by Tonbow (founded by Mitsubishi in 1913). Mitsubishi continued making pencils during the war years from 1933 to 1935, selling them domestically, but production was later crippled by American bombing. The 8900 (top left) was introduced in 1945. Today Tonbow is a thriving enterprise.

The photo above shows a collection of early Montblanc fountain pens. Even though Japan boasts three premier fountain pen makers, Montblanc continues to be a longtime favorite among Japanese aficionados. The photo here shows examples of Montblanc’s early models. The third from the top, the one with the red star on its cap is the 1914 Rouge et Noir, priced at $11,500.

These photos show the stationery departments in two Tokyo stores, one located in the Yûrakucho area, the other in Ginza. The top picture was taken inside Loft, a large almost-department store, selling everything from toothpicks to mountain climbing gear. The pictures are small but do convey an image of Loft’s extensive stationery department. The pictures at the bottom of the page were taken in the Ginza Tokyu Hands store, one similar to Loft. Row after row, aisle after aisle of nothing but pens, pencils, paper, ink, tape, clips, erasers, sharpeners and on and on.

Closing the final page of Stationery Hobby Box I ‘wake up’ to remember I’m 10,000 miles away from it all. Sigh…

Posts on earlier issues of Stationery Hobby Box: 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15 and 13

Stationery Hobby Box No. 20

Thanks to a faithful friend in Tokyo, I recently received volume 20 of Stationery Hobby Box (Shumi no bungu bako), the sumptuous magazine for pen, paper and ink enthusiasts published three times a year. As much as I look forward to each issue of the magazine, reading it has become something close to exasperating. For a long time it was easy to run out and buy many of the goods advertised, as well as encounter on occasion some of the people featured in the stories. These days a ten thousand mile distance make that next to impossible.

This new issue is as beautiful as ever, chock full of fountain pens, ballpoint pens, pencils, notebooks, paper, stationery, ink and a dozen more categories of goods. The cover feature in this issue is the new Caran d’Ache RNX 316 series, which includes a fountain pen, rollerball, ballpoint and pencil. The body in this new series comes in either a round or hexagonal shape and is crafted of something called 316L stainless steel.

A feature article in the volume 20 issue is one on vintage Montblanc 146 fountain pens made between the years 1949 and 1993. Beautiful, each and every one, but something of an investment considering the least expensive is listed at $688.00 (seventh from the top, a black 146 made in 1980) and the most expensive at $3,767.00 (second from the top, a green and black 146 made in the years between 1949-1960). The average price of these eleven vintage Montblanc fountain pens $1,247.00.

The page above shows a spread of notebook, memos, passport cases, pencil cases and tiny pencils from Italian company, Fabriano. This page is one of several advertising quality European stationery goods.

The pages above and below are part of a feature on “The Strength of Handwriting.” The caption on the top example describes the pages of handwriting exhibited as having the qualities of ‘warmth and sound.’ The bottom examples are all the handwriting of men.

Popular with many people now is the collection of Mix Free inks allowing users to blend inks and create their own colors. The scan below shows a color wheel of the shades possible with just three colors: Aqua Blue, Cyclamen Pink and Sunny Yellow. Mix amounts are shown between the outer and inner swatches. M=Aqua Blue, M=Cyclamen Pink and Y=Sunny Yellow.

Interested in earlier posts about the magazine Stationery Hobby Box? Click on the links below.

No. 13

No. 15

No. 16

No. 17

No. 18

No. 19

Hobby Box Treasures

The latest issue of Stationery Hobby Box (Shumi no bungu bako) came out in Tokyo last March but I was unable to get a copy until recently. The fact that I did finally receive it is thanks to my always faithful friend K there in Tokyo. As I’ve said more than once, this is one of those magazines that spares nothing in its aim to produce a gorgeous magazine of over 150 glossy pages, filled with photographs, essays and presentations of new products in the world of paper, ink and fountain pens. Volume 19 immediately grabs the eye with its cover of light olive, red lettering and a close up of the issue’s showpiece, the recently released limited edition Sailor Shima Kuwa.

Eleven pages of the magazine are devoted to Sailor’s 100th anniversary and the release of two specially designed fountain pens to commemorate that milestone. One of the two is a pen made for a special few connoisseurs and far beyond the scope of what most can imagine owning. A few words about that fountain pen will follow a description of the pen shown on the magazine’s cover, the Shima Kuwa.

For its 100th anniversary Sailor released the exquisite Shima Kuwa, a limited edition of 1000 handcrafted fountain pens made from a rare mulberry wood. The wood is a premier grade of mulberry that comes from Mikurajima, a small island in the Izu archipelago famous for this rare natural material. The mulberry of Mikurajima is often used in making special gifts, known as the golden mulberry because of its natural golden grain. In Japan’s Edo era, this particular mulberry was considered precious and usable by only the most highly respected artisans called kuwamono-shi.

An even deeper beauty is coaxed from the mulberry using a deep burnishing process with urushi lacquer, one called fuki urushi that originated at the famous Jôhô Temple in Iwate Prefecture. Decoration is in the form of gold powder maki-e used to create a wave pattern on one side of the cap below the clip, while the alternate side bears the number, ‘100th.’ The lacquer work and the decoration were done by master maki-e artisan, Oshita Kôsen. The pen’s gold plate clip is a special design, an ‘anchor’ clip that echoes the longtime anchor emblem on many Sailor pens. Each pen is individually engraved with the serial number on the barrel end.

The Shima Kuwa comes with a large 21k nib plated with 24k gold. The Sailor anchor and chain are stamped on the nib. Perhaps a disappointment to some, the nib comes in only an M size. It uses a cartridge / converter filler. Dimensions are: length-162mm capped / uncapped-150mm; diameter-20.5mm; weight 36.8 grams. It is packed in a special Aizu-urushi lacquered gift box and comes with a silk pen wrap made in the ushikubi–tsumugi style, a traditional craft for 800 years. Also included is a bottle of black ink and five black cartridges. The top of the presentation box shows a maki-e decoration, a picture of Sailor’s original Hamada factory from 1911.

Sailor sells the pen for $1,958 and I feel certain that is the price at pen shops across Japan offering the Shima Kuwa. Classic Fountain Pens here in the US is offering the pen for $2000. Photographs of this very beautiful pen are excellent on that website.

If nothing else we can all dream about owning one.

Sailor’s second 100th Anniversary release is another limited edition of only 100 fountain pens, and one for those aficionados with deep pockets. It is the Arita Yaki Sometsuke-Kiri-Houou made of porcelain from the Imari area of Saga Prefecture. Arita-yaki (porcelain) has a tradition going back 400 years and is considered to be the origin of Japanese porcelain. The pure almost transparent blue and white is in a design immediately recognizable as Imari. Despite the porcelain’s thin smoothness it is strong, resistant to breaking and easy to care for.

The pen is made of Arita koransha porcelain, is 163.7mm long, 19.4mm in diameter and weighs a hefty 63 grams. Again, the nib is available only in M; the filling system is either cartridge or converter. It sells for $13,050.

Another Hobby Box

Always a thrill to receive a new issue of Japan’s stylish magazine for stationery goods, Shumi no bungu bako, or Stationery Hobby Box. The new issue, volume 18 was published in Tokyo on December 20 and a faithful friend immediately posted a shiny ink-scented copy off to me in Florida. True with each issue, the magazine is filled with articles and lush advertisements across the entire spectrum of pens, ink, paper and related products. Always a lot to read and see, but the main articles this time focus on the depth and variety of nibs. There are twelve different perspectives on nib types and shaping from pen makers and nib specialists. Gratifying to see that one of the experts consulted is Moriyama Nobuhiko, who crafted the nibs on three of my own fountain pens.

Seems like Sailor Jentle Ink always has a few new inks to introduce in these quarterly issues, and the December number is no different. Six new colors are offered and are shown in the second photograph on the right. One is a dark green called EPINAR, which Sailor likens to spinach; GRENATE is a deep red related to the color of pomegranate; ULTRA MARINE a purplish blue that Sailor sees as ocean blue; APRICOT is another bright orange in the line of Edelstein Mandarin; the other blue they call SKY HIGH and from the magazine sample appears to resemble anything but the blue of the sky; the pink called PECHE is not peachy at all, but a rather ordinary pink.

Montblanc has at last come out with something to replace the discontinued Racing Green. The third photo shows the new IRISH GREEN alongside the old Racing Green on the left. The ad assures readers that this new green is now available in Japan, but it will require a Monday phone call to the Millennium Montblanc store in Orlando to see if this ink has reached the US.

The bottom photo all-a-jumble with pencils, pens, clips, erasers and a dozen other things is a shot inside a small, popular stationery store called Traveler’s Stationery in Kichijôji, a area of western Tokyo. I include the photo only because it impressed me as an especially good composition that holds the eye.

Stationery Hobby Box is a thick magazine that always draws me back again and again to linger over the wealth of photos and information. Older issues alway serve as an excellent source of reference for fountain pen enthusiasts.

Hobby Box 17

The eagerly awaited new issue of Stationery Hobby Box (Shumi no bungu bako), volume 17 arrived today from a friend in Tokyo. The cover story this time is (roughly translated) ‘Cool Pens and Notebooks We Want to Try Right Now,’ The fountain pen featured in the center of the cover is a new model from Montblanc, the Meisterstück Diamond, a treasure in two sizes for those willing to dig deep into their wallet.

Feature articles in this issue include one on notebooks, pens and ink for work, a beautiful page on the Pelikan 100 series, an Herbin story on the new 1670 ink, and including a fold-out color chart, a long article on the world of nibs, and several pages on Mina Ishiwatari, President of Hoppy Beverage Company. Ms Ishiwatari is featured because she owns a collection of 250 fountain pens, writes a daily blog in longhand with pen and ink, choosing the pen and ink that suits her mood each time. Have a look here. I chose two pages from the Ishiwatari article to scan, partially because one page shows two new limited edition Iroshizuku inks, edo-murasaki and shimbashi-iro. There is a third limited edition color called fukagawa-nezu. Samples of the murasaki and fukagawa above are from The Laurel Tree blog. To my eyes, the fukagawa-nezu is a must have.

The current issue is the first to include an advertisement related to Apple's iPad. A company named Mejin Takuya is now making an iPad leather slipcase that comes in fourteen colors. If I’m converting the yen to dollar rate correctly, this little luxury item sells for $425, only $74 less than the iPad.

The article on fountain pen nibs around the world is twelve pages of stunning detail. From a brief look, the writer and photographer don’t seem to have left out much.

Little surprise to find another article on the acclaimed “God of Fountain Pens” Nobuyoshi Nagahara, and the fadeless beauty of his Naginata nibs. This is a man who has been making nibs for Sailor over the past sixty-four years.

Also included in this quarter’s issue is information and photographs of ten different notebooks, diaries, planners and sketchbooks. This line up, though beautiful in design and layout, is a little disappointing in that none of the featured products come in a blank page alternative, except for the Drawing Block sketchbooks. Life is offering a new hardbound journal that looks good, but also has lined pages.

In an earlier post on Stationery Hobby Box, I bemoaned the fact that eighty percent of the stationery goods showcased in the magazine are too expensive for my budget, but the presentations alone are a pleasure to ogle and wish for. This magazine is exceptional in the quality of its writing, photography, layout and design, and to me worth its $17 price tag.

For those interested in further sample pages from Stationery Hobby Box, there are some earlier posts here:

June 5

March 21

December 23, ’09