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Delve a Little Deeper into Japan’s Attractions!
The Captivating World of Japanese Stationery

Stationery originally referred to equipment for writing, cutting, and pasting, and until
now attention has focused on items of stationery that pursued practicability. Recently,
however, numerous cute, stylish, and convenient stationery items have appeared, andthey are capturing the attention even of people who previously had no interest instationery at all. Indeed, the Japanese now speak about “catching the stationery bug,”special books and magazines on stationery have been published, and clubs of stationery
fans have been launched. Stationery really has taken off as a hobby. Thanks to thesepeople, the range of stationery is expanding, and there are many enchanting items inJapan that will tempt shoppers.
What’s more, increasingly people inother countries appear to be catching
the stationery bug too. Recently it issaid that some foreigners actually
visit Japan out of their growing love
for stationery. Certainly, when I go tolarge stationery stores these days, Ioften see people who look like tourists
from overseas enjoying their shoppingthere.

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I visited Cute Things from Japan, a stationery store in Tokyo that is popular amongforeigners. The store owner, Ayako Takao, told me that from her childhood she
corresponded with pen pals overseas. At that time the overseas pen pals were unable topurchase Japanese stationery, so she searched for online shops in Japan that she could
introduce to them. But there were no shops that handled sales in English, and even those
shops that did deliver overseas only responded to order requests in Japanese. Realizing
how difficult it was for foreigners to make purchases, 10 years ago, in 2014, Ayako began
an online shop selling stationery in English. “These days, especially in the United States,
the number of online shops and actual physical stores handling Japanese stationery has
increased,” she commented, “so I really do feel that the enthusiasm for Japanesestationery has grown over the past decade.”
Why has Japanese stationery come to attract so much attention? Ayako, who herself has
experience of living in Canada, told me about the difference. Overseas, she explained,
there are few places selling stationery. And even when stationery is on sale, it often
occupies the smallest possible space in corners of supermarkets or stores selling officesupplies. There are no outlets like stationery stores in Japan, which have a variety ofcolorful products available in one place and thoughtfully choreograph the space. Even
the online shops in Japan display lots of items with exciting colors and designs, andmany people are drawn in by their cuteness. In addition, Ayako said, stationery withJapanese-style designs, such as kokeshi dolls, beckoning good-luck cats, and Shiba dogs,is popular among foreigners, who enter such sites out of their interest in Japan.
Many foreigners who like Japan also like stationery. Conversely, many foreigners likestationery and, as a result, come to like Japan as well. “Initially we only launched theonline store and had no plans to open a physical store,” Ayako explained. “But many ofour online customers would come to Japan, and increasingly we were being asked where
the shop was, so we ended up opening one. I get the impression that there is considerable
overlapping between people who love stationery and people who love Japan.” Apparently,
since many customers of the English-language online shop became fans, almost all of thephysical shop’s customers are visitors from abroad. I asked Ayako what stationery items
were especially popular among these overseas visitors.

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Popularity of Japanese notebooks, especially Traveler’s and Hobonichi Techo notebooks
Broadly speaking, there are
two types of people who likeJapanese stationery. There
are those whose liking forJapanese stationery comesfrom writing instruments,
such as fountain pens andballpoint pens, and thosewholikestationeryingeneral. On the one hand,
many people whose love ofJapanese stationery stems from writing instruments use fountain pens, ballpoint pens,and notebooks; they do not use stickers or masking tape very much. On the other hand,a significant proportion of the people who like Japanese stationery in general use either
Traveler’s notebooks or Hobonichi Techo notebooks, and many of them purchase suchitems as stickers, masking tape, and seals to decorate their notebooks. “There is aTraveler’s Factory shop in Nakameguro that opens at noon,” Ayako said. “The other day
a group of Americans who were on a tour came shopping here in the morning and said
they were then going to the Traveler’s shop. There are many people like that.”
Japan-born masking tape boom
Masking tape is very popular in Japan. Indeed, Japanis the birthplace of the idea of using this colorful item
for decoration. A company called Kamoi Kakoshi Co.,
Ltd. (kamoi-net.co.jp/en/), which began making
fly-catching

paperandotherproductsinOkayama, also started manufacturing masking
tape for industrial purposes to stick over places
where coloring was to be avoided. Then a group of three stationery-loving women told
the company that they wanted it to make masking tape with various different colors,
and their request led to product development. “Kamoi Kakoshi is said to have been thefirst company to manufacture masking tape as a design product,” Ayako said. Now suchmasking tape, called washi tape, is all the rage worldwide and comes in various colors
and designs.

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Soebumi-Sen

Soebumi-Sen is a set of small envelopes and writing paper made by Furukawa Shiko Co.,
Ltd., based in Mino City in Gifu Prefecture, with the aim of encouraging more young
people to handle washi (traditional Japanese paper). There is a great variety of such sets,
which can be used, for example, to express a little thanks or to send a small message
along with a present. “This is a popular product overseas as well,” Ayako said. “It allows
you to write a short letter on washi paper.”Tsubame notebooks
The

hallmarkofTsubame

notebooks,

producedbyTsubame

NoteCo.,Ltd.(tsubamenote.co.jp/), is their high-quality paper. At its paper-making factory in
Hokkaido, Tsubame Note uses
acid-free foolscap paper* tomakeits

notebooks.

The

company

isextremely

fastidious.

For

example,because water temperatureand bacteria in the water
affect paper manufacturing, it
only uses water in certain
monthsoftheyear.

The

company also lines the paperusing a machine that is the only one of its kind remaining in Japan today. “Look closely,”Ayako told me, “and you will see that the lines are not perfectly straight. They are just alittle wavy, aren’t they? That is because Tsubame Note still uses this machine fordrawing lines that it has been using for ages. An artisan swiftly feeds the paper into themachine and quickly takes it out.” The lines in most ordinary notebooks are made withIHCSA Café

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offset printing using oil-based ink, so they tend to repel lines drawn with the water-based
ink of fountain pens. To prevent this phenomenon, Tsubame Note draws the lines withwater-based ink, which apparently does not interfere with the writing. “There are many
manufacturers in Japan who, like Tsubame Note, have been making good old-fashioned
products for a long time,” Ayako commented. “I think it is a strength of Japanesestationery that, when introducing products, we can talk about such history and stories
as well.”*Tsubame acid-free foolscap paper: Foolscap paper was developed as paper especially for writing.
Tsubame Note manufactures Tsubame acid-free foolscap paper at its factory in Hokkaido. The special
characteristic of the paper is that the fibers are visible when it is held up to the light. This paper iseven better for writing than high-grade paper; it enables smooth writing with pencils, mechanicalpencils, ballpoint pens, and fountain pens. In the case of fountain pens in particular, there is very little
smudging or bleeding.

Compared with other countries, apparently there are many stationery makers in Japan,
and the stratum runs deep. There are companies like Tsubame Note, which stick to theirown unique ways, and there are companies operating on the principle of competition,vying with other makers in turning out even better products one after the other.
Overseas notebooks are limited in variety. Evenin the case of hard-cover notebooks, they only
have simple horizontal lines. In Japan, as well as
their design, many notebooks have various othercreative devices too. For example, with ring
notebooks, the central ring often brushes against
the hand when writing, so to prevent this there
are notebooks that deliberately remove themiddle spiral. Since there are lots of productswith such ingenuity, choosing the right one is fun.
And the product lineup is substantial, so it will
be easy to find one that meets your needs and is easy to use.
Original products as well
Original products include collaborative items developed by the above-mentioned
Tsubame Note and Cute Things from Japan. “One creator [of cover illustrations]attended a stationery event in San Francisco last year and held a workshop there,” Ayako

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said. “This year, in the summer, we
will be holding a workshop together
in New York. We are beginning toorganize

suchoverseas

events.

Until now it was only possible tobuy Japanese stationery online. Buttheseoverseaseventsinvolve

makers and creators actually goingfrom Japan and meeting people
face-to-face. Going forward, if such
events increase, I think Japanesestationery will become even morefamiliar and even more popular.”If the popularity of Japanese stationery increases, it could potentially further boost
inbound tourism. It may even serve as an important entry point for getting people to fallin love with Japan too.

Welcome to the captivating world of Japanese stationery!
Editorial cooperation:

Cute Things from Japan

Address: 3-8-14 Unoki, Ota-ku, Tokyo 146-0091
The stationery items introduced in this article can be purchased at the physical store.
Online shop (English; overseas delivery only): For your needs for Japanese craft supplies

and planner items. – Cute Things from JapanIHCSA Café

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