Nakaya Platinum Pens Japan Retail Price

[Tinevisce]

Hello FPers!

 

A friend of mine will be heading to Japan sometime in April; and I was wondering if the Nakaya pens may come a bit cheaper for me without having to pay for customs and shipping.

 

Are their retail stores in Tokyo that sell Nakaya pens? I was looking at the briarwood pens- any idea what's the retail price in Yen?

 

Thanks,

T.

[Mon34480]

Same as the RRP you see on the site sometimes might be more expensive for discontinued models.

 

The only real benefit of buying Nayaka in Japan is that you dont have to wait months for your pen to be made but then it highly depends if they have the pen you want

Edited January 24, 2017 by Alteyz

[jar]

You might actually pay more for a Nakaya in Japan if you have to pay the tax on it there.

[daveboyer]

G Itoya in the Ginza area of Tokyo had a bunch of Nakaya, Platinum, etc. on display on the second floor (iirc). I think the prices were about what you'd pay at Nibs.com, but at least you can get up and personal with them for a few minutes before slinking out depressed that your bank account isn't quite big enough...

[Dufffader]

Itoya is the place I go to buy Nakayas in Tokyo. There's a special store in the back lanes (second floor) that sells the higher end fountain pens. At least when I bought mine it was cheaper than Nibs.com but I think it might be because of the exchange rate since you pay yen instead of USD elsewhere, even Nakaya.org.

 

The only downside is you are limited to what they have in stock both for finish and nib type. Itoya does swap nibs, and they will even adjust it for you in their nifty looking workshop on the same floor.

[Tinjapan]

You can find Platinum Briarwood pens for less than MSRP at Ameyoko in Ueno.

[Buzz_130]

Itoya is where I bought mine. You can only buy what they have in stock, and the cost will depend on the exchange rate of the day. My price was close to the same as nibs.

 

Buzz

[katanankes]

Yes, Itoya great shot because it offers tax refund on the spot. Also Maruzen, Nagasawa and Mistukoshi (Nihombashi branch) carry Nakaya. In my experience (2 trips so far) the stock is very limited.

 

By the way, high end fountain pens moved to the main building on Ginza.

 

Sometimes Nakaya sends out its nibmeister for a special sale in a store and they will bring a large inventory and even tune nibs to your specifications. Keep an eye on this page http://nakaya.org/en/events.aspx. The only downside is that they do not offer tax refund, so there is a 8% price increment. Also, once I was refused a music nib becuse it requires some special tools to install that they did not carry along.

 

In general, as compared to Nibs.com, Nakaya applies a 1 to 100 conversion rate... what I mean is that what is sold by nibs at 550usd is offered at 5500 from Nakaya. Depening on the real exchange rate, there could be room for a small saving if you can get a tax refund (also you need to factor in credit card or conversion commissions if any).

[Ronderick]

The good news about buying the Nakaya in Japan is that you can get a tax refund if your purchase is 5000 yen or more at stores that offer the service.

 

Yeah, most likely Nakaya pens cost more than that.

[gerigo]

No unfortunately Nakayas are not cheaper in Japan by much. That's because Nakaya follows a 100yen to 1USD rule for their pricing in the US. Which would mean if you purchased in Japan, it would only be cheaper if the currency conversation works in your favor like last year. 2016 was the best time to shop in Japan because of the very depressed currency rates. Almost everything was like 20% off of retail prices in the US. However, since then the Japanese Yen have risen so it's close to about 8-10% off of what are comparable US pricing.

 

The difference is the buying experience. As people have pointed out, K.Itoya is probably the best source to get Nakayas as they usually carry quite a wide variety. BUT don't equate this to the entire Nakaya inventory. I have been to K. Itoya at least 5 times in the past 2-3 years, and have still to see a Decapod twist or any of the Dorsal Fins. Don't bother trying to get Nakayas from places like Maruzen or Kingdom note. They probably have 2-3 of the most generic models.

Edited February 6, 2017 by gerigo