Been There - Tokyo International Pen Show 2018

[mke]

The first international pen show in Tokyo has ended today. Attendance had been good and bad. Saturday it was very good, today not so many people came. The reason for today's absence of many people is a typhoon heading towards Tokyo. Therefore, many people stayed at home. The trains in Tokyo will stop soon and they thought it might be difficult to return home.

 

The show room was spacious, so, it was easy to move from one place to the other. The photo below was taken before opening during preparation time.

 

 

Some pen makers were present: Eboya, Ohashido, Taccia, Pilot, Sailor, Manupropria, Chriselle, Koubu Setu, StyloArt, Sekisei, TetzBo, Hayashi, Helico, resellers too: KingdomNote, PenHouse, BungBox, MoraStylos, GerardoFoglia.

Quite a few vendors sold accessories (inks, papers, notebooks) into which people showed the most interest. They were especially flocking around ink selling places (the desk of Kobe Ink Nagasawa was sometimes difficult to reach).

Glass pen vendors also attracted a lot of people: YaChing Style, Lion, KawanishiGlass.

 

It was an interesting show and my hope is that next year more sellers are attending. Or some sellers take the show more seriously.

Especially, as people came for the penshow from Taiwan, Hongkong, Korea, Shanghai, and Spain.

Big thanks go to Mr.Endo from Eboya for organizing the show and to his volunteers.

 

The next show will be October 5-6, 2019.

 

http://tokyo-international-penshow.com/

 

I need a little bit time to go through my pictures. Hopefully, some other attendees meanwhile join in with their experience.

Edited September 30, 2018 by mke

[GardenWeasel]

Wow! With those vendors I’d have difficulty carrying enough money to buy all I want..impressive listing!

[mke]

Apart from Eboya and Manupropria, many vendors had brought with them a surprisingly poor collection of pens. But one resellers came with a collection of high-priced MB LEs - talking about prices up to 7000 USD.

 

I talked to people from the Japanese pen magazine and tried to implant the idea that they bring out a good overview in English on Japanese pens - at least for 2020 when many people come to the Olympic games and might buy pens in Japan. Their resistance to even think about it was clearly visible. Some people need to be talked to more often - we will see.

 

For me, it was a successful weekend. I went home with a beautiful Raden pen from Manupropria, design Kumo Raden shown here at page 8 (pdf) in the format Miyabi Bo Medium. The pen shown in the latter link was also shown at the exhibition. I had problems deciding if I would want this pen or the Kumo Raden pen. Finally, I chose the Raden pen.

Edited September 30, 2018 by mke

[25_15_3]

Thanks for the report

[Maurizio]

Thanks for the report. I’d love to see more photos of the event and pens if you have them.

[mke]

I have added a series of photos so you don't need to wait too long.

Part 1: https://mkepens.blogspot.com/2018/10/pens-tokyo-international-pen-show-2018.html

 

Other photos need to be worked on (that will be part 2). I cannot give much information on the contents as I had not enough time to see all the stuff. Sorry.

Part 3 will then be a little bit more explanation and observations.

[penzel_washinkton]

How I wish to be there. So many inks and Japanese fountain pens I want to try especially the Japanese domestic market specials

[Maurizio]

Thanks for the vicarious thrill MKE. It was interesting to see how some tables were sparely filled with pens while others were bountiful.

[hellokloh]

I wasn't there, but some friends were -- I was really impressed by how orderly everything was (such orderly lines!) despite the crowds on Saturday! I have two pens on their way back from the show and am hoping to make it next year!

[hungrynerd]

Don't forget to credit Kaoru of Bungubox! She was also a lead in planning.

 

 

I attended and had a great time. So many types of paper and ink! Very well organized and I hope to attend again in the future!

[da vinci]

Great write up and photos thanks mke

 

Was cash necessary to purchase the pens, or did the vendors have card capabilities?

[amberleadavis]

Thank you for the write up the pictures and the discussion.

[Tinjapan]

Great write up and photos thanks mke

 

Was cash necessary to purchase the pens, or did the vendors have card capabilities?

Great question. I too want to know.

[Tinjapan]

MKE can’t answer via his cell phone and aked me to post this for him.

 

"Some vendors accepted credit cards - some didn't. The smaller the shop the higher the probability of cash-only. You cannot rely on being able to pay by card."

 

So, now we know.

[da vinci]

Ok that's helpful thanks

[Barry Gabay]

Thank you, Michael, for this wonderful report & your very interesting photos. Glad you had such an enjoyable & successful show. Your posts are always so interesting for those of us interested in Japanese fountain pens & the Japanese pen culture, but who have not had the opportunity to visit Japan. Thank you again. Best wishes, Barry

[mke]

I link to another blog: some more photos - please use Google Translate.

https://ameblo.jp/bokumondoh/entry-12408702726.html

[rutherfordr]

Wow, I would love the chance to see the Manu Propria pens in person!

[mke]

and another detailed report

https://estilofilos.blogspot.com/2018/10/tokyo-international-pen-show-2018.html

(Cronicas Estilograficas)

[hungrynerd]

The Manu pens are in Itoya!

 

The Japanese blog is from Hiroko of Bokumondoh. She's a second generation urushi artist based in Tokyo. Her specialty is tsugari-nuri, and she does custom work on fountain pens as well. I am a repeat and happy customer of hers.

 

The other part of the show were various talks and workshops. Pilot had a small corner (Bruno's post had a picture) in which beginners learned about fountain pens. From what I saw, they received the pen disassembled and then were walked through how to put it together and then to ink it.

 

I took the class (pictured in Bokumondoh's blog) about drawing with fountain pen ink from Hiroshi Sato, who did all the label sketches for Taccia ink. This was one of those classes where not understanding Japanese didn't matter quite as much because you could just watch and repeat what he was doing. He spoke English well enough to translate for us anyway.

 

I can't say much about the talks - couldn't understand a word, but Sailor's ink blender was there to talk about, what else, Ink blending.