Trusted Japanese Vendors

[Bill Wood]

Hope this is posted in the right spot. I love Japanese pens and there are so many vendors. Cool-pens is recommended - any others that the board can recommend? Perhaps supporters of FPN. Most of these shops are of course on ebay. Many thanks.

 

-Bill-

[parnesh]

j subculture. No affil, just satisfied customer. Also engeika for custom orders.

[rohit1974]

Bundikou

[kansaskyle]

I used Engeika this month to order a VP Decimo and a bottle of Pilot Blue ink. It took 13 days from the time I ordered to get the items on my doorstep. I wasn't impressed with their customer service as I sent them a couple questions to which they never responded. I also didn't know the items from Engeika were shipped until they showed up!

 

Engeika offers competitive prices for some things, although J-Subculture has them beat if you can find the items you want in the right config (e.g., color and nib combination of pens).

[Jackson]

+1 for Bunkidou (on Global Rakuten).

[Algester]

+1 on usagiya on rakuten sadly I dont think they ship overseas, then there's bung box who does ships overseas

both these sellers have some stuff from Sailor be it ink or pen

Edited March 19, 2015 by Algester

[Cdub24]

J subculture is awesome

[vam272]

How does one fine one's way around the J-Subculture site? It seems to cost a lot of time to save a little bit more money. I had a heck of a time trying to find my way to Pilot Custom 823 pens. Pages and pages of other pens and cartridges and inks. Maddening. Am I missing something?

[maverink]

jsubculture and sellers like voice, horiman, officejapan, bunkidou etc on rakuten

[wastelanded]

cerisiersjaponais.

[tinkerteacher]

From Global Rakuten:

 

AT-N

http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/atn/

Good customer service, decent English skills, have Apica Premium Hardcovers in stock and ready for international shipping

 

Komamono Honopo

http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/komamono-honpo/

English skills not very good, Iroshizuku inks at USD 9 a bottle, willing to bargain on prices, did I mention they sell Iro inks for USD 9?

 

Penroom

http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/penroom/

Vast selection of pens, carry Japanese artisinal stationary products, open to nib swabbing

 

These are the Rakuten vendors I have had (very) good experience with. Granted you have to understand that in Japan almost all stationary stores are mom and pop affairs. They don't actually carry much physical stock; most of it is order on purchase. So expect a few days from purchase before you hear back from the vendor regarding your order. Plus, most of your communication with the vendor is going to be filtered through Google Translate.

 

But, given you can avoid the Western seller markup of 100-150% on Japanese market stationary products and given the swift and cheap Japanese postal service, why aren't you shopping on Rakuten yet?

[tinkerteacher]

Oh, also keep in mind that Rakuten's search engine is set up and designed for the Japanese langauge and the Japanese writing system, NOT foreign languages.

 

The funky computer translated product titles are good for a laugh though.

 

And, given the highly competitive stationary market that Japan has, you can sometimes find western pens like Pelikans and Lamys for far cheaper than you would in the west.

Edited March 23, 2015 by tinkerteacher

[sarahfar]

I have not had problems with any. Great dealings with both Cool Japan and Engeika. I just bought a Sailor KOP Progear demonstrator at an incredible price from AGJ.Japan Tokyo. Was fast, sealed, all exactly as it is supposed to be. He treated me like a King and the pen works beautifully out of the box at a huge discount toUS Pricing.

[Recoil Rob]

I was about to order a Pelikan M1000 from Penroom on Rakuten but, after quoting me a price, I found they added an 8% "international correspondence fee", essentially an handling fee, that negated any savings.

Edited March 26, 2015 by Recoil Rob

[29anirban]

Bundikou

Hi, Mr. Rohit! I'm Anirban from West Bengal. Could you help me to buy a few pens from rakuten? I have absolutely no idea how to operate any transaction with them. But I'm too eager to buy a few fountain pens from them as there prices are much lower. Thank you for your suggestion.

[29anirban]

jsubculture and sellers like voice, horiman, officejapan, bunkidou etc on rakuten

 

 

 

Hi! I'm Anirban from West Bengal. Could you help me to buy a few pens from rakuten? I have absolutely no idea how to operate any transaction with them. But I'm too eager to buy a few fountain pens from them as there prices are much lower. Thank you for your suggestion.

[rohit1974]

Hi, Mr. Rohit! I'm Anirban from West Bengal. Could you help me to buy a few pens from rakuten? I have absolutely no idea how to operate any transaction with them. But I'm too eager to buy a few fountain pens from them as there prices are much lower. Thank you for your suggestion.

 

Hi Anirbhan,

AFAIK Bunkidou has stopped sending items to India. Importing stuff directly is for me too much of a hassle. Please try to get them locally where you will atleast get some sort of after sales service.

[sketchstack]

On ebay I've purchased several pens from 'pisuke2005'. (Incl. some high-dollar pens)

 

Very courteous seller, though it may take a day or two to get an email response. And sometimes he doesn't ship right away. (My impression is that it's not his day job. In fact sometimes he 'closes' his ebay store when he's not taking orders.)

 

'Cool-japan' on ebay was great for a couple of pen purchases, but once I had a post-purchase issue with my order that was my fault. As such, I was black listed from ordering from them again. A little aggressive but having sold on ebay myself I know how it goes ...just a word of warning.

Edited April 21, 2017 by sketchstack

[Kevan]

I was about to order a Pelikan M1000 from Penroom on Rakuten but, after quoting me a price, I found they added an 8% "international correspondence fee", essentially an handling fee, that negated any savings.

 

Hmm. That's...understandable from the shopkeepers point of view, I guess. But it's unfortunate. I was thinking about going with Penroom when I was ready to buy a Platinum Izumo. With their "correspondence fee"....that's an extra $34 on top of shipping. The total would still be lower than a Stateside seller, of course, but it still makes me sigh.

[Bounce792]

On ebay I've purchased several pens from 'pisuke2005'. (Incl. some high-dollar pens)

 

Very courteous seller, though it may take a day or two to get an email response. And sometimes he doesn't ship right away. (My impression is that it's not his day job. In fact sometimes he 'closes' his ebay store when he's not taking orders.)

 

'Cool-japan' on ebay was great for a couple of pen purchases, but once I had a post-purchase issue with my order that was my fault. As such, I was black listed from ordering from them again. A little aggressive but having sold on ebay myself I know how it goes ...just a word of warning.

Received my Pilot Custom 823 today. About a week since I won it on auction. Came with personalized note and some tea bags.

 

If he doesn't have what you're looking for, he says he can look for it.

 

Way better than Engeika when they still sold Pilot, Sailor & Platinum.