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It seems Tomoe River has just been discontinued.


Naoki NISHIKAWA

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I have seen one of the stationary stores in Japan has tweeted so. 

 

 

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I never use it either, fanciest I get is Rhodia...lol.
Still, slightly dismaying to hear.

Eat The Rich_SIG.jpg

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Judging from the tweet by Sakae Technical Paper Co., they are developing some substitute products.

 

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That would not constitute discontinuation of the Tomoe River brand or its products, though, but just one vendor's retail products made from Tomoe River papers, albeit what is most commonly referred imprecisely by a subset of fountain pen hobbyists in Western markets. If Rhodia stopped making and selling its Classic line of notepads, which uses Clairefontaine paper (of different colours, but all 80g/m², if I'm not mistaken), it still wouldn't mean Clairefontaine paper as a whole is being discontinued, would it?

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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27 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

but just one vendor's retail products made from Tomoe River papers

 

I guess the stationary shop's tweet was in response to the announcement of  Sakae Technical Paper Co. of 26 April 2021 which stated the discontinuation of, now I guess, because of your input,  "ONE OF THE" tomoe river papers, in plural, but the original / whole paper per se, before anyone cut into smaller sheets.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Detman101 said:

Still, slightly dismaying to hear.

 

Right. Tomoegawa Co., Ltd. seems to have said since the production of the particular paper had been in red big time, they had no choice but to stop the production. And that's, eh, sad.

画像_2021-05-09_161257.png

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Bummer.

Everything that has a beginning has an end.

Add lightness and simplicate.

 

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12 hours ago, Naoki NISHIKAWA said:

Tomoegawa Co., Ltd. seems to have said since the production of the particular paper had been in red big time, they had no choice but to stop the production. And that's, eh, sad.

 

Could, or should, I therefore conclude that the sheen-loving fans of Tomoe River, which are (how small?) a subset of the fountain pen (ink) user community, just aren't and/or haven't been spending enough on the products they so adore and often evangelise? I'm not having a go at those who're genuinely keen, and buy pack after pack (of 50 or 100 sheets) of loose TR paper — or even ≥4,000 sheets at once to achieve a much lower per-sheet cost, so committed they are to the product that they know eventually they'd spend that amount on TR paper anyhow — for use every way they can, from creating calligraphic artwork to writing grocery shopping lists and everything in between; but it does seem that the frequency and volume of ‘talking up’ TR paper on some corners of (multiple) fountain pen hobbyist forums don't translate to open wallets as a segment of the consumer base. No, I don't think higher prices for the past year or two would've resulted in better profits for TR; I suspect the collective demand for the niche products is rather elastic.

 

As an observer who is an active member of the hobbyist community, I can't wait to see the trends in asking prices of unopened packs of TR 52g/m² paper on marketplace platforms such as eBay, especially where the seller claims the date of manufacture was before whichever date is was in 2019 that TR made technical changes to its product. (Disclaimer: I don't have any to sell, and have neither the potential nor the desire to profit from this.)

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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Meh...It's a specialty product.
Just like the inks that require it to do all the fancy things shown online and in pictures.
I don't have the patience or coin for it...I'm just an average joe.

Eat The Rich_SIG.jpg

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27 minutes ago, Detman101 said:

I'm just an average joe.

 

Same here. 

 

As you might have known, Japanese paper or washi is used to restore Michelangelo’s paintings on the Sistine Chapel ceiling and various works of art stored in the Louvre Museum in Pairs, yet, washi is dying. (Not the mass produced ones, of course, but the finest quality hand made ones). For example, there is only one young lady who can make the silk thread which is necessary to make washi. But she can't make a living. She is not the only one person who cannot make a living. The same goes for various other craftsmen associated with the washi industry. 

 

Now, do I have urge to help the entire Japanese paper industry?

 

Nope.

 

But I feel somewhat sad. 

 

Yes.

 

I am not trying to solve the issue nor to save the world. But that does not prevent me to feel just a little bit sad.

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7 minutes ago, Naoki NISHIKAWA said:

 

Same here. 

 

As you might have known, Japanese paper or washi is used to restore Michelangelo’s paintings on the Sistine Chapel ceiling and various works of art stored in the Louvre Museum in Pairs, yet, washi is dying. (Not the mass produced ones, of course, but the finest quality hand made ones). For example, there is only one young lady who can make the silk thread which is necessary to make washi. But she can't make a living. She is not the only one person who cannot make a living. The same goes for various other craftsmen associated with the washi industry. 

 

Now, do I have urge to help the entire Japanese paper industry?

 

Nope.

 

But I feel somewhat sad. 

 

Yes.

 

I am not trying to solve the issue nor to save the world. But that does not prevent me to feel just a little bit sad.

I agree, it is very sad.
Worldwide inflation is to blame.
Everything costs more, while people are earning the same or less.
It cannot continue this way.
The old arts and skills will be lost forever...

Local to me, the seamstresses, tailors and shoe cobblers are disappearing in droves. I fear the day that I will have to buy a new pair of boots instead of getting the soles replaced on my beloved/no longer buyable Ariat Engineer boots. And if I have to start wearing clothes that aren't tailored to my fine physique, that's going to be a serious problem. I know that I can take up the skills myself, but I really don't want to have to add more equipment to the garage or basement just to maintain a standard of living that I should technically be able to source outside.

The world is falling apart....

Eat The Rich_SIG.jpg

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36 minutes ago, Detman101 said:

Local to me, the seamstresses, tailors and shoe cobblers are disappearing in droves. I fear the day that I will have to buy a new pair of boots instead of getting the soles replaced

 

I see exactly what you mean....

 

Societies should be designed in such a way when an ordinary worker works decently hard, he/she should be able to be proud of what he/she is doing... 

 

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16 minutes ago, Detman101 said:

Worldwide inflation is to blame.
Everything costs more, while people are earning the same or less.
It cannot continue this way.

 

"You ain't seen nothing yet."

 

Add lightness and simplicate.

 

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4 hours ago, Naoki NISHIKAWA said:

Societies should be designed

(Not intending to move the discussion in this direction, just a momentary hijack)

 

Societies are not designed. Societies happen based on the actions and values of the people in those societies, which is, of course, an ever-changing stew. Societies change if enough people in them want them to change, but I would not bet against trends of the last couple of hundred years continuing in the same directions. 

 

(end of hijack)

 

This development is a shame, in a way. There are plenty of papers I can write on, and I have had trouble finding A4 notebooks made with 52 gsm Tomoe River paper so I haven't used it much. I made one of my own early last year*, though, and it was one of my favorites. There are other thin, fountain-pen friendly papers I think, but they seem to be even harder to find for regular consumers.

 

*I bought a 100-sheet pack of A3 paper at the SF Pen Show in 2019, and a friend taught me something about book making, and did most of the actual work. 

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Where people build, craft and create, people destroy, alter and end.

 

I never highly used it because I believe there is way better paper suitable for pens (»C by Clairefontaine« is one of the greatest, if not the best), but simply the fact it was so thin made it very special and thus it is a loss for the community.

Restorations ▪ Guides ▪ Photos

https://www.pensink.org

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I never experienced the "original"(pre-2019) but have come to love the currently available(in the US) 52gsm paper. Not only does it bring out the sheen in inks like no other paper I've used, but I love its feel in hand and being able to stuff several pages in an envelope for a 1 oz. stamp.

 

It's become my preferred letter writing paper, and I keep both A5 on hand for quick, short notes and A4 for longer letters.

 

Since I find Clairefontaine Triomphe 90gsm to be a bit too much for a lot of uses, in the long term it looks like I need to find something else possibly in the 70-80gsm range that I can get as plain A4 or A5 sheets either loose or in pads. I love Rhodia 80gsm, but I've not seen it in anything other than lined or dot grid, and not as loose sheets.

 

In the meantime, I wonder how much of a run there will be on Amazon. It looks like I'll be buying a couple of 100 sheet packs in A4 and A5 both to keep me going.

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I just purchased a 4k sheet pack using a forwarding service. Is there any way one might be able to confirm whether or not the paper itself is being discontinued, or Sakae TP's offering of the paper in it's notebooks?

 

Edit: Based on the recent press release, it seems all of Sakae TP's offerings of Tomoe River Paper are being discontinued, including loose leaf sheets.

Edited by CityPop
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8 hours ago, Naoki NISHIKAWA said:

But that does not prevent me to feel just a little bit sad.

Thank you for the important news. I'm eyeing my last piles of TMR-A4P-Y and TMR-A4P-W I use for special occasions... 🤔

 

Thankfully Sakae Technical Paper Co. is considering substitutes and we still have options. I've been using the economical Kokuyo with decent results.

 

Still kinda sad. Any decline of stationary, i feel is like death by a 1000 little paper cuts, first some TR, then what?

 

I wonder what other 'high end niche' products make companies red until they too are no longer sustainable by passionate stakeholders.

 

At least, there is enough demand across markets to keep some things afloat.

 

 

 

 

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