Japanese Stationery Haul

It’s amazing that I can say I’ve just returned from my third trip to Japan (in just as many years). It has always been a dream of mine to visit at least once and I feel beyond blessed that I’ve been able to make that happen. Oki doki, enough with the back story.

STATIONERY! yup… stationery excites the inner core of my being. On my previous trips to Japan I well and truly stocked up on some amazing items so on this trip I had a purpose. With my new Limited Edition Olive Traveler’s Notebook in hand, I want all content to have a feeling consistency and I decided an easy way to do this is to focus on a colour palette of blacks, greys and green. I also purchased a few things that I missed out on getting before and anything super cool that I just had to have. So here is a breakdown of my Japanese Stationery Haul.

It’s not hard to get your hands on some stationery in Tokyo but there are a few stores that are a must for any trip over. These are:

• Tokyu Hands This is one of my favorite stores. Not only does it sell the most amazing stationery and cute things, it also has levels of everything you never knew you wanted to buy including craft, kitchen goods, travel and much more. I always have a kick walking the stairs of this store and following the calories burnt counter. The two locations I visited are Shinjuku & Shibuya.
• Sekaido If you’re into art supplies then you must stop by here. As well as a floor full of stationery they have multiple levels specialising in all different mediums. From Japanese traditional, manga, oils, watercolours… everything!
• Loft With a similar vibe to Tokyu Hands, Loft offers a great range of stationery, so many stickers and even cosmetics & beauty.
• Kiddy Land The first time I walked into this store I had to hold back the tears. I couldn’t believe I was actually standing inside a store I dreamt so much about. Kiddy Land has 4 storeys, with each level focusing on different themes and characters. If you take the time to look around, you can even find stationery items featuring you favorite kawaii characters.

Zebra Sarasa Clip • I can’t believe I didn’t own one of these babies before. These gel pens feel great in my hand, have vibrant colour payoff and come in a gorgeous range of colours. As well as a few from the standard range I have a milky, vintage, shine and my limited edition mister donut thats scented!! >_<

Pilot Hi-Tec C Coleto • A multi pen with the freedom of choosing your body and components as you wish.  This time I chose the 4 barrel Hi-Tec C Coleto n in white and 0.3 Ink Cartridges and a pencil unit. I also got myself a Limited Edition Kumamon Coleto 10 colour set.

Pilot friXion • I really love the idea of an erasable pen, especially when it does what it claims to do. Filling in the gaps of my collection I purchased the grey friXion Ball Enpitsu .7,  friXion Ball Slim in black & blue black & I knew I had to have the Sumikko Gurashi design in my life.

Uni Style Fit • A fun, light little guy that is comes in a 0.28 tip. Now thats a small tip! Light in the hand but great solid colour. I thought I was done with the one but on my last visit to Tokyu Hands the Green Mickey in 0.38 caught my eye and well, the rest is history.

Pilot Juice • These gel pens are fun, bright pens. The colour payoff is clean and clear and for some odd reason they remind me of jelly beans.

Pilot Juice Up • GET THESE IN YOUR LIFE NOW! I am BEYOND in love with these pens and I’m super sad I didn’t buy more when I had the chance. I love the way they feel in my hands. They have a great weight, soft to touch, fine tip and the connection between your hand and the paper feels smooth and soft. And to top it all off the colour is the perfect intensity. My black one now proudly lives with my Travelers Notebook. Its a very big honor for a pen to make it to that spot. So I purchased the black & green gel in 0.4, pastel white in 0.4 and metallic silver in 0.4. Oh and the silver… its sooo shiny and has jumped to the top of favorite metallic pens! If you love pens and don’t have one of these babies then go out and get one of these guys NOW… you can thank me later.

Sakura Pens • I’m still quite new to the Sakura Pen world and only have the Gelly Roll in white, so I wanted to try a few others to get a feel for them. I’m not sure how I feel about my selections. I don’t hate them but I think I could live without them. I think that I’m missing something here. Am I? If you love these, please tell me about your experience. I really want to give them a chance. So, I purchased the Souffle in Grey with the intent to use it for my illustrations, Ballsign in Black & Ballsign Knock in Black. meh *shurgs shoulders*

Tombow Playcolor • I wanted some markers to liven up my drawings so I stumbled across the Tombow Playcolor K. These are a double ended marker with a extra fine and bold tip. Sorry I couldn’t find a link for the newer K series. I also stumbled across the Playcolor 2 Rilakkuma at Kiddy Land and BOOM that was thrown straight into my basket!

Pentel Fude Touch • These small tipped brush pens are a great tool for brush calligraphy (not that i’m any good that it… but i’m trying)

Highlighters • I have the full set of mildliners and so many highlighters that I can highlight every book in my collection but these guys were purchased to use as illustration markers to live in my travel pencil case. I picked out repurchasing the green and grey Zebra Mildliners to work with my notebook colour theme. At the Pokemon Center I saw this gorgeous soft green eevee friXion light marker that I now love with all my pokemon loving heart. And finally a ‘true’ highlight is the double ended Uni Propus Window Highlighter in lime green.

Rilakkuma Double Ended Markers • No reason for me buying this other than the fact that its SERIOUSLY ADORABLE! How could I not. Can you not see the cute little Rilakkuma head on the cap. ARGH it kills me with cuteness.

Akashiya Sai Watercolor Brush Pen • A really love the olive colour of this brush pen. A perfect fit for my Olive notebook.

Mechanical Pencils • Yes, I own more than enough mechanical pencils. Yes, I own a DelGuard and a Disney Tsum Tsum Kuru Toga Pencil. But these guys have a purpose… I promise. I purchased the Pilot AirBlanc 0.3 to live in my travel pencil case instead of always pulling one out from my desk collection and I also purchased the Pilot FureFure Corone 0.5 (a super cool shaker pencil) for the same reason… plus… it has a green body with polkadots on it. Please take my money!

Washi Tape • I had a very stern conversation with myself when it came to washi. I was not allowed to buy all the pretty colours. A better use of the tape would be to work back with my colour theme for my notebook. A lovely mix of olive, silvers and black MT Washi tape. A new thing that I can’t wait to play with some more are my Slim Washi. And Yes, that is a Polka dot Disney Tsum Tsum tape you see there too… and I love it!

Erasers • I went to Japan with an eraser mission. I feel like I don’t have the perfect eraser to suit my needs. And its tricky, as I want a different eraser depending on the work that I’m doing. But I think I may have found some good options to play with. Firstly I have 3 Tombow erasers. The first two are the Tombow Mono Zero in both the 2.3mm round (white body) and 2.5x5mm rectangle (black body)  and a back up refill for both. I’ve never tried a black eraser before so I picked out the small Tombow Mono eraser in black and I quite like how it feels to use. I also picked up a mini twin set of the Kokuyo Kadokeshi 28-Corner Eraser. This is a staple item for anyone who visits japan and I already own a full size but when I saw the minis… well… you know what I did. Finally I picked up a Jinbesan Eraser with a teeny tiny floating eraser within the case.

Pencil Leads • With the purchase of my travel pencils it was only fitting that I got some leads to go with them. For my 0.3 I wanted a range of leads and I found these super cute mini Pilot Neox Graphite Lead tubes which hold 10 leads in them. I got the HB, B & 2B. I also picked up a Uni Nano Dia in 0.5 2B. A bit of a side note: I’m super dooper sad that I didn’t pick up the Uni NanoDia mixed colour leads. I saw this on my way out of a store on my last day and didn’t have time to go back.

Extras • Not a new item I own but a new style is the pen style scissors. These Plus Fit Cut TWIGGY Compact Scissors are a slimmer version to the ones I already own so I thought they’d be a better fit for my pencil case, plus they are black/white & Mickey Mouse! It was an easy decision to buy them. I also picked up a Sun-Star Stickyle Pen-Style Stapler in black and what I like about this is there is a little compartment on its butt to store tiny things.

Stickers • So, I didn’t realise till I got home that all the stickers I purchased were stickers of CATS! =^._.^=     I picked these guys up along the way with no real addenda to buy any but when I picked up each one I wasn’t able to put them down.

On a side note the notebook I use is the Limited Edition Traveler’s Notebook in Olive equipped with the Leather pen holder in olive & Traveler’s Notebook-Refill 002 Grid. This is a new baby but was purchased a few months before my trip. My pouch is a Japan purchase. It is the Delfonics Utility Inner Carry Medium Pouch. I already own the Blue & White Denim but the olive matches perfectly with my notebook and is now my notebooks new home.

Fun fact • My nails in the video are also a Japan souvenir. I had them done at TRU Nail in Shibuya.

So that’s my round up of the Stationery bits and pieces I picked up on my trip to Tokyo, Japan. If you’ve used any of these products I’d love to hear your thoughts on your loves and dislikes.

– marita