Pen Shops In Japan And Taiwan

[learningsquare]

I'm in Taiwan (Taipei, Tainan, Hsinchu) for another two weeks and then Japan (Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Kyoto) for around a month. On my bucket list is to haul back as many bottles of Iroshizuku and Sailor/Pilot/Platinum pens as will fit in my suitcase.

 

There have been quite a few threads on pen shops in Japan over the years, but I've been able to find many good recent threads other than this one (and just a handful on shops in Taiwan). Several shops mentioned on threads over one or two years old have closed or changed their policies, etc.

 

My goals are two-fold: (1) to visit some sites of general pen interest (Pilot Pen Station, shops with interesting vintage specimens, etc.) and (2) find discount shops that sell at Engeika prices or better. My total budget is in the low thousands (not worth setting a hard number as I'll almost certainly exceed it).

 

Taiwan. Most modestly sized (or larger) stationery or pen shops carry at least a basic line of Lamy, Parker, and Pilot pens, but most of these are sold at prices well above what they go for in the U.S. at standard retailers. I plan on checking out Pen House (文寶房名品) in Tainan and T.Y. Lee (小品雅集) in Taipei but so far don't know of any other ones worth checking out. My Chinese ability is more than passable (but I have native speakers with me, so language should be a non-issue).

At Pen House at least, for goal (2) it seems that a bottle of Iroshizuku goes for NT $500 (a little over US $16), which is good compared to U.S. prices but maybe not as sweet as the ¥1500 or less (a little over US $12) reputed to be obtainable in Japan. I might get a couple bottles of my favorite colors there for now and save the hoarding for Japan.

 

Japan. So far I'm planning on visiting at least a few of the shops mentioned in Russ Stutler's page, mostly to satisfy goal (1), as I realize most of the shops on his list aren't going to sell all that cheaply due to corporate retail policies, including Eurobox, Itoya, Shosaikan, Maruzen. My Japanese is basically non-existent, but I have a few friends who are native speakers.

 

If anyone could suggest a couple good crawls (for either purposes 1 or 2), it'd be much appreciated.

[Algester]

Uhh i just made a shop list in japan but eh... However if your going to look for vintage pens its going to be harder without having connections and chances that only eurobox only sells them and im not sure if selling cheaply if you see pilot's, sailor and platinum's website they put the msrp which is way way lower than the usd prices then there is the exchange rate

And everyone is selling at those prices btw but if your in luck thats the retail price so 10K yen is the borderline good offering from them 81 usd according to the most recent exchange rate

Unless you want maki-e

Sadly because of the shop density in tokyo I got lazy in updating the list... At least 50 stores alone exist in metropolitan tokyo alone

Osaka check morita pens though mitsukoshi tokyuu hands

But pretty much look for department stores they will always and probably will have a dedicated fp section

Hmm I do hope you can drop by sailor's ink clinic though

As for inks... Really?! Good luck expanding your horizons and drop by ink thread in my signature :3

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/287962-compiling-a-penpaper-shoppers-guide-to-tokyo/

I hope you will find this useful

PS: if you do get lucky... Those department stores may have exclusive pens still exist from the makers from a very recent pen event you cant haggle them but expect them to be using somewhere close to msrp

however my weakness is that I havent been to Japan as much as I would want so I'm stuck with modern stores

PM me if your not yet satisfied maybe I can find some stores for you in Kyoto and Osaka, but pretty much your aim is to look for the exclusive pens from the makers because a lot of offerings will be found online

but you may also want to check T-site in daikanyama, shibya district tokyo

Edited June 29, 2015 by Algester

[hooper]

I will post my own report from my recent trip today or tommorow, though I only went to the obvious choices. Algester has a pretty encyclopedic knowledge though, check out his threads, they were extremely helpful for me.

 

You shouldn't worry about not speaking Japanese, there will always be at least one salesperson speaking more than adequate English.

[Algester]

I dont have encyclopedic kowledge rather I have sources that I can use and I'm willing to share if your willing to spend the money on where I get my sources from... some dont need the money but it still requires you to spend the money cause... you know they are consumable goods and perhaps it will give you some insights as wel

[tenney]

You shouldn't worry about not speaking Japanese, there will always be at least one salesperson speaking more than adequate English.

Adequate for most things, yes indeed. But if you're looking for something very special you might encounter some difficulty -- e.g. if you're seeking a specific Japanese ink or pen and YOU ask for it by pronouncing it wrong, they might not understand you because the pronunciation you used was some word they had never heard before. Then, please don't be "an ugly American" if that happens... writing the word correctly is much better sometimes.

[pbhat]

TY Lee's shop at Taipei is a great place for pen lovers, do not miss it.

pbhat