Tokyo Trip And The Importance Of Timing

[hooper]

It´s been over a month now since I returned from Japan and I have finally gotten round to writing up a little summary of the pen-related part of the trip as well as taking photos of the loot.

 

As I had mentioned in a previous post, I had a couple of days to roam Tokyo and the one pen I didn´t want to leave Japan without was the Sailor Susutake. Just having dropped our baggage at the hotel, we made our way to Kingdom Note in Shinjuku, which, as Algester had pointed out, showed a Susutake - and at a somewhat discounted rate - on its website.

 

The place is not that hard to find, in the odd but intuitive way Japanese shopping alleys have of leading you to the store you want to visit. Once in, stock was definitely very interesting. My impression was that the majority of pens are Western, many used and at discounted prices. They had a quite decent Sailor section, a couple of high-end Nakayas, but, sadly, no Susutake. I enquired and their response was that it´d have to be custom ordered and would be done in approximately four months. Somewhat disappointed and severely sleep deprived, I forgot to check for store-special inks.

 

Second in line was K. Itoya. The ground floor carries pens of up to perhaps 30,000 JPY. The first floor is where the eye candy is: a ton of Namikis; maybe eight Nakayas in the more popular tame finishes, a housoge, and one of the sumi models which was very tempting and quite a deal at 80,000 JPY, but, seeing as it was somewhat similar to my black hairline Neo Standard, lived to see another day at Itoya. Then, in the next rack, oh wait, that´s the - oh yes, that´s the Susutake! And with a knot and uneven coloring, just as I wanted it.

 

Feigning composure, I sat down to try it. Alas, it only had a Naginata Togi M nib, which is wonderfully smooth, but not quite suited to my handwriting. I was also intrigued by the deskpen, which was a great writer and, more importantly, happened to have the Naginata Togi in MF. Two strokes in, it was clear that was exactly the nib for me. It isn´t that the M is that much wider, but in my opinion the MF has the perfect amount of feedback and sharpness for angular handwriting such as mine. Luckily for everyone, the salesperson read my face sufficiently and offered to try and see if the NTMF from the desk pen could be fitted to the Susutake.

 

Behind a glass wall, there is a work bench where the Itoya nib masters work their magic. A couple of minutes later, the sales clerk returned to excitedly tell me the nib could indeed be refitted (and of course, thank me for my patience, apologize profusely for the incredible inconvenience suffered by not having the exact nib on the exact pen, etc. - even after five visits, the politeness of the Japanese never ceases to amaze), and the rest involved credit cards being passed along and bowing.

 

Here are a few photos:

 

 

It´s a huge pen, but I find it comfortable for prolonged writing. The jump from section to barrel is considerable, but, depending on your grip, not necessarily an issue; it doesn´t bother me one bit. As regards the nib, it´s simply perfect for my way of writing. Very stiff and perfectly sharp. I´ve read that line variation can be achieved by changing the writing angle. That is true to an extent, but I fail to see how that might be done while writing a Western script, unless you use 2-3 very careful strokes per letter. Writing hiragana or kanji might be another story. Horizontal strokes do end up a bit broader, but we´re talking minute differences.

 

Later that day, we dropped by Mitsukoshi in Nihonbashi. A not too comprehensive, but nicely curated pen selection. I was very impressed with the Nakaya ao iro, which is sublime in a way photos struggle to capture. They also had four or five Platinum Izumo in the usual finishes. The urushi work looks on par with Nakaya and it sure is an interesting pen.

 

On another day, we went into Maruzen Nihonbashi. Sometimes timing is everything, and so it happened that my wife needed to use the restroom as soon as we entered Maruzen. By the time she returned, I had tried and set aside a pen I hadn´t planned on getting, but then again I hadn´t known I´d find lying so temptingly in front of me: a Nakaya ao tame. The clerk confirmed they are discontinued and that this was the last one they stocked, and, coupled with its wonderful soft medium nib (a new one marked "Nakaya", for what it´s worth), it was time for the credit-card-and-bowing ritual.

 

 

The photo is terrible, but I think you can seet that the background color veers rather towards moss green than turquoise. The soft nib is springy enough for fun note taking and does add a bit of character to your writing.

 

This pen aside, they had a few more Nakayas, three Susutakes and many more Sailor pens. A separate section displayed the very high end maki-e pens in very hushed lighting. The lacquering is an absolute work of art on these pens, though in my eyes they´re more museum pieces than writing instruments.

 

I also wanted to grab a bottle of the Athena Sepia ink, but it would only be available in August. Instead, there was a blue store-special (whose name eludes me) and a blueish-grey called Hatobanezu (which I bought, just to make sure its name wouldn´t elude me). Other trip casualties on the ink department were Iroshizuku Ama Iro and Yamabudo as well as the three-bottle sampler for my wife and a Nakaya pen wrap.

 

Lastly, we took a look at the pen section in the Shinjuku Takashimaya. There were a few very elaborate maki-e pens on display. A very nice draw was a rack of all the Pilot nibs to try, just lying there, without needing to ask the personnel. I was quite taken with the music nib, which left me with the impression that it´s sharper than a Nakaya music. I also saw a fantastic leather pen wrap which I did not buy, and which I am still upset about weeks later. Other than this, I´d say you can skip it if you have a chance to go to K. Itoya or Maruzen. The same goes for Isetan.

 

To end the trip on a fitting note, I received an e-mail while waiting to board our return flight to learn that another Nakaya which I had ordered a few months back was ready for delivery once I was back in Europe. Again, perfect timing.

 

Apologies for not posting photos from store interiors, but I tend to err on the cautious side of etiquette when in Japan as everyone around you is so faultlessly polite and courteous.

Edited July 25, 2015 by hooper

[Aramis]

The Susutake is superb !

[da vinci]

Great write up, and so pleased that you managed to buy the pen you wanted

[Samovar]

Nice write up and great pen. That was quite a productive visit to Tokyo. I'll go to my local Maruzen in August for the sepia ink.

 

Cheers

[jmccarty3]

What a wonderful trip! Thanks for writing about it.

[hooper]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments!

 

Now the next project is to time a visit to coincide with a pen fair.

[hari317]

nice trip report, really enjoyed reading it. congratulations on your nice purchases.

[hooper]

Thank you, Hari. The Nakaya is filled with the Iroshizuku ama iro and is a pen I reach for daily at work. As for the Susutake, it stays at home and is used for more concentrated writing.

[wanderlust]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments!

 

Now the next project is to time a visit to coincide with a pen fair.

There are annual pen fairs at Nihonbashi Maruzen and Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi every March. Maybe there will be many foreigners going for the fair.

[Algester]

There are annual pen fairs at Nihonbashi Maruzen and Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi every March. Maybe there will be many foreigners going for the fair.

the representatives from the foreign brands will be there as well as their nib masters... so yes

[lecorbusier]

I really enjoyed your write-up, especially that phrase, 'it was time for that credit-card-and-bowing ritual'. I reckon you must either write directly for a living or indirectly in the writing 'business'. In any case, I am happy that you received the expected and the serendipitous; and there is no better trip than one given the full indulgences of pen-shopping--in Tokyo.

[hooper]

Glad you enjoyed it! Tokyo is such a wonderland for pens and paraphernalia that setting a budget is futile.

 

And I'm a lawyer by trade so I do a fair bit of writing, though of a very technical variety.