2013 Tokyo Pen Trading Show

[mchenart]

The 2013 Tokyo Pen Trading Show was held at the KFC Hall very near the Ryogoku subway station, on April 20-21. Since I have always been curious about this small scale (some say local) annual event, I decided to go take a look for myself. Of course, I was also hoping that perhaps I might find a nice Japanese urushi pen or two there. Well, I did manage to find a couple of rare items, so I wasn’t disappointed in that respect.

 

Entrance to the Show costs 2000 yen on April 20 and 1000 yen for April 21. The price disparity was probably due to the fact that most of the goodies would have been snatched up by the second day. For those who would like to sell their pens, he/she needs to register for a table for 10,000 yen each, or share the table with someone else to cut down cost. Hoping to find the maximum number of pens on display, I went on the first day.

 

Coming in from the chilly April weather, I found the Pen Show room already filled with browsing customers at 10 am. There was only one big room, with 15 or so tables in all and really not a lot of pens on view. Here are some shots showing the general impression of the Pen Trading Show.

 

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I find mostly pre-used Japanese pens by the Big Three- Pilot, Platinum and Sailor, vintage Onoto, Conway Stewart, Waterman, Parker, and Sheaffer, plus a lot of German pens, such as Pelikan, MB, Rotring, Senator and Kaweco. This is really a pen trading event, so you won’t find manufacturers setting up tables to sell their brand new products with warranties, except Twsbi that had their own table. While some of the available pens are NOS or in near new condition, most don’t come with a box or papers. However, since it is a closely knit community of pen lovers who come to the show, I imagine the vendors will answer to any future problems regarding the purchases in a responsible manner. Most of the people I saw seemed to know each other.

 

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The Japanese pen lovers seem to covet German pens, as they were displayed on many tables. Vintage Pelikans, especially those with tortoise patterns, were everywhere. Lots of MB’s were shown as well. Obviously, the Japanese take good care of their writing instrument, and most of the vintage pens were in excellent condition. Newer Omas, Delta or Visconti pens could be spotted here and there, but in small numbers. If one were looking for pens by major Japanese manufacturers, this would be a perfect place to hunt. Limited editions, sold out pens, rare pens in exotic materials such as lizard and toad skins, innovative Pilot pens with unique nibs were all over the place waiting to be plucked.

 

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An acknowledged expert on Japanese pens, Mr. Nobuyoshi Nikura with his vast array of Pilot goodies. I believe he worked as a sales manager for Pilot before retiring from that company.

 

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A fun part of visiting a pen show is in finding the unusual, the complete unknown and the rare oddities. At the Tokyo Pen Trading Show this year, there were three or four workshop artisans selling their leather pen cases and pen sheaths. The shape of the pen sheaths I saw was rather interesting and looked like one made for daggers. They were ‘friction fit’, thus did not need any snaps or velcro to fasten them.

 

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One artisan, Mr. Wada Tetsuya, produced very nice pencil holders with caps, using ebonite and/or celluloid stock. Hand turned, they are packaged with a roller ball insert that could be installed if you don’t feel like using the pencil. The celluloid version was reasonably priced at 9500 yen each; the ebonite barrel/celluloid cap version cost a bit more.

 

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Some intriguing finds I spotted there include this expensive maki-e ink bottle with a sterling cap. I think the bottle is maki-e on glass, but what stunning maki-e work it is!

 

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A pen friend there showed me a huge custom fountain pen made of ebonite, with the cap studded with diamonds(?). Definitely a big pen for a big man (or woman).

 

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Every year, the organisers of the event, Wagner Pen Club, would commission a special pen from one of the Big Three companies. For this year, it was a limited edition grey green Realo by Sailor in either Profession Gear or Profit 1911 shape, fitted with a 21k Medium nib. The Wagner Realo was, of course, a piston filler, priced at 31,500 yen each. I can imagine that since the pen was made in a very small run, it could become a sought after item in the future. The pen came with a custom made pen kimono in a light coloured cotton fabric. Two special iron gall inks were also made available for this occasion- one in blue black and the other brown. Price: 1000 yen per bottle.

 

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After a long day of browsing through the various pen and stationery offerings, my legs were starting to wobble, so I sat down at a table with a benign old gentleman in tuxedo and high hat, for a bit of character analysing fun. I wrote my name in Kanji on a piece of paper placed on a machine platform, then info on the strength and angle of my handwriting was fed into a computer that, well, computed my character and gave the verdict. I won’t digulge the content of the analyisis, but I have to admit that it was chillingly accurate. My friend at the show, Jose (aka Bruno Taut whose website Cronicas Estilográficas, http://estilofilos.blogspot.tw/, is a must read) told me that such a machine was used to figure out how one writes so that an ideal pen nib could be selected to best suit the customer’s needs.

 

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At first, after a brief survey of the pen show floors, I was a bit disappointed by the lack of esoteric or workshop pens for sale. But on closer look, I spotted an interesting deep red shaved urushi pen that called out to me. It looked like a vintage eyedropper pen by an unknown (to me) manufacturer Dia with a good sized 14k nib, that had a wider girth than most Japanese pens of that era. So I bought it. Well, it turned out to be a 1957 Togidashi-mon by the Diamond Company (with the abbreviated ‘Dia’ etched on the clip), as indicated in the Lambrou/Sunami book ‘Fountain Pens of Japan’. Not only am I glad that I got this rare pen, it will serve as a fond reminder of the first Japanese pen show I have ever attended. Oh, I met Mr. Sunami at the event and had a nice brief chat with him. It was great to meet the most famous pen collector in Japan and the author of so many juicy custom pens. As I walked towards the door on my way out, I am already thinking about attending next year’s Tokyo Pen Trading Show.

 

With special thanks to Jose who was kind enough to show me around and to introduce me to some of the pen people there. Gracias! I am also indebted to rokurinpapa and Eizo Fujii of Eurobox for their invaluable advance info on the Pen Show.

[Patrick L]

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience, photos and thoughts.

[da vinci]

This is a very helpful and informative review - thank you

[Wahl]

Thanks for your your review mchenart, by the way, I saw Jose at the Madrid Penshow, last November !

[chris burton]

Thanks for posting. That's a 'show' I'd love to attend. And that ink bottle is awesome.

 

Is there any way to contact any of the dealers that were selling vintage Japanese pens?

 

thanks,

[mchenart]

Thanks everyone for your kind words.

 

Chris, you posted an interesting question with regards to vintage pen dealers. Before I went to the show, I had hoped to purchase a vintage Yotsubishi, a Ban-ei or any Kamakura-bori pen there. I knew it would be a long shot as these pens are quite rare, and indeed, I didn't find any. While there, I did not spot any dealers that concentrate on vintage Japanese pens only. Most of the older pens were mixed with modern ones, sometimes in the same tray, making it difficult to hone in on the items one is looking for.

 

Language can be another barrier in such transactions. Most of the dealers I met there did not speak (or write) English, so Jose was gracious enough to do the translation for me.

 

So to answer your question, I think your best bet to link up with a Japanese pen dealer would be to locate one on eBay who is used to dealing in English, or go to Tokyo Pen Trading show yourself and communicate with the dealers in person, or to contact Wagner Pen Club who organise the event: http://pelikan.livedoor.biz/

 

I hope this helps.

 

Michael

[Nikolaos]

Thank you very much for the wonderful report and photos Michael. I would like to attend next year's show in Tokyo as well.

Your Dia pen is a fantastic find. It's been a great pleasure pleasure meeting you and fellow Taiwanese pen friends in Taipei last week and seeing some of your pen treasures

 

Nikolaos

[chris burton]

Thanks everyone for your kind words.

 

Chris, you posted an interesting question with regards to vintage pen dealers. Before I went to the show, I had hoped to purchase a vintage Yotsubishi, a Ban-ei or any Kamakura-bori pen there. I knew it would be a long shot as these pens are quite rare, and indeed, I didn't find any. While there, I did not spot any dealers that concentrate on vintage Japanese pens only. Most of the older pens were mixed with modern ones, sometimes in the same tray, making it difficult to hone in on the items one is looking for.

 

Language can be another barrier in such transactions. Most of the dealers I met there did not speak (or write) English, so Jose was gracious enough to do the translation for me.

 

So to answer your question, I think your best bet to link up with a Japanese pen dealer would be to locate one on eBay who is used to dealing in English, or go to Tokyo Pen Trading show yourself and communicate with the dealers in person, or to contact Wagner Pen Club who organise the event: http://pelikan.livedoor.biz/

 

I hope this helps.

 

Michael

 

Hi Michael,

 

Thanks very much. I should really take a trip to Japan, but barring that, I'll start looking through ebay. That's a good idea.

[rudyhou]

a great review. i have never been to a pen show and would love to experience one in japan, though i don't speak a bit of japanese. however, i assume it is a great necessity to be able to speak japanese when one visits the pen show, no?

[mephisto.chu]

Thanks for sharing, which really makes me want to be there some day.

[mchenart]

a great review. i have never been to a pen show and would love to experience one in japan, though i don't speak a bit of japanese. however, i assume it is a great necessity to be able to speak japanese when one visits the pen show, no?

 

Thank you for your kind words. It was my first ever attendance at a Japanese pen show, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Language could be a problem if you don't speak Japanese in the Tokyo Pen Trading Show, especially if you want to clarify with the seller some finer points about the pens on display. Having said that, I guess there will always be someone there who could translate for you. I know, to be able to communicate with the sellers in either Japanese or English could be a big plus, but failing that, one could still have a good time and come back with a bunch of pen treasures.

[Earthdawn]

Great review and GREAT pictures!

 

Thank you for sharing that with us.

[da vinci]

Just out of interest is it acceptable to have a friendly haggle over the pric of a pen you would like to buy from a deler at the show, or is everything a fixed price no discussion entertained?

[rudyhou]

 

Thank you for your kind words. It was my first ever attendance at a Japanese pen show, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Language could be a problem if you don't speak Japanese in the Tokyo Pen Trading Show, especially if you want to clarify with the seller some finer points about the pens on display. Having said that, I guess there will always be someone there who could translate for you. I know, to be able to communicate with the sellers in either Japanese or English could be a big plus, but failing that, one could still have a good time and come back with a bunch of pen treasures.

 

thank you for the feedback, mchenart. guess i may need to find a friend/translator if i ever plan to visit a pen show in japan.

[LuisAAbrilRomero]

Interesting. thanks for the posting!

[mchenart]

Just out of interest is it acceptable to have a friendly haggle over the pric of a pen you would like to buy from a deler at the show, or is everything a fixed price no discussion entertained?

 

Absolutely. Although everything had a price tag attached to it, I did manage to pay less than the said list price in two instances.

 

A little bit of charm and sincerity won't hurt!