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@@parthshah2527 Thanks :-)

Thanks :-) Glad you enjoyed it!

It's hard to go wrong with Mr. Donut. I'm fascinated by the oddly rubbery consistency of their donuts... it reminds me of how food looked in old cartoons.

Last year when I visited, masks were still mandatory indoors. This year, they were not necessary, and most foreigners didn't wear them. but Japan has such a culture of conformity, nobody wants to be the first person to stop wearing them, so they just persist. But of course, even before Covid, masks were pretty common in Japan... they're somewhat germophobic. I'd say that about half of the time on this trip I wore a mask, just to be polite, since it doesn't bother me at all. About half the time I just forgot.

Only at "Kawasaki Bunguten" in Ogaki. The shop is not a chain; there's only one location (though Kawasaki is a popular name in Japan, so there may be other shops that share the name).

@@thewetpen that's why I asked! If I search on Google Kawasaki stationary I find 10ish store in all Japan. Thank you!

Thank you my friend! 🙂

Thanks Maria! Hope you're enjoying the SF Pen Show!

@@thewetpen Loving it! Funnily enough I brought a bottle of your ink with me to ink up a new pen... instead of using the several bottles I purchased. 😅🤣

Those old Sailor vase bottles are great :-) They're getting harder and harder to find... even in Japan.

@@thewetpen they should make them at least for some special edition inks, anniversary inks and stuff like that.

@@Guairenito Agreed!

Thanks Paul! Kawasaki was wonderful... I'd recommend it to anyone 🙂

Isn't it? When I get better at ink making, I'm going to start triple boxing my inks, too 🙂

Thank you! I just watched your video about the Platinum 3776 Higo ZoGan and enjoyed it very much. That's another pen that I'll have to add to my shopping list, now 🙂

@@thewetpen I'm glad you enjoyed watching my video! Thank you!

Thank you 🙂

Thank you :-) I agree... that Iron Blue is pretty wonderful!

Thanks Andrew :-) Kawasaki is definitely worth a visit if you're in the Nagoya area. When I was in the cafe, one of the other patrons was also an ink maker, but he didn't speak English, so we didn't chat much after we were introduced by the proprietor... but I thought it was really cool to be in a place with so many people who are interested in ink.

Thank you! Glad you're enjoying them :-)

Ahh, that's a good reminder... thanks! I'm not sure that I'll actually do anything to that tip... I might just see if it wears down with use. For the moment, I'm too worried about ruining it.

Thanks! I'm definitely lucky to be able to take trips like this... in large part because of this TH-cam channel and support from the community here (and having some business in Japan to get me there to begin with). Maybe in a few more years, I'll be able to buy exclusive pens instead of just bottles of inks 🙂

Thanks! I agree 🙂

I do like purple, I suppose... though I think that it's just one of the colors that isn't too far from blue :-) I'm very lucky to be able to go to Japan like this... but it's also a lot easier than you might think. From the west coast, it's cheaper to go to Japan for a couple weeks than, say... Chicago or Austin... because even though the flight is a bit more expensive, once you get there, hotels and food are wonderfully inexpensive.

@@thewetpen I love blue, but I really love sheen and shimmer. Darker the inks the better, I do not pale inks. and I am in the hot state of Texas. Thanks for sharing the information on Japan. I can't speak it or read it. At least you have an interpreter with you. And our phones help a little.

Aaargh! I wish I'd been able to go to the SanFran show... but I just have too much going on here. Next time we can hang out for a bit, I hope. Hope you enjoy the show and find some good stuff 🙂

Thanks! Glad you're still enjoying them 🙂

Thanks Phil 🙂

I was lucky this time in that my friend Chris speaks a bit of Japanese, but for the most part, no... it's not too difficult to get around in Japan. In the cities, most people have a smattering of English... at least enough to get the basics accomplished along with some pointing at things, but it's not uncommon for people to speak English proficiently, if reluctantly. People with excellent English skills do pop up in random places, too. In Tokyo, one of the best English speakers that I met worked behind the counter of a 7-11 convenience store. Maybe it was a Family Mart. Outside of the big cities, the Google Translate app works wonders. It can read signs with the camera, and translate spoken conversations in real time. It takes a little ingenuity, but it's not hard. Needless to say, you'd get much better in-depth conversations and interactions and less reluctance on their part to engage if you try to speak Japanese.

​​@@thewetpen Thank you for the prompt reply. Your video are so inspirational. Makes me fall in love with Japan. I think i will enroll to japanese class for beginers here where I lives. My wish list is Matsuya Pen Hospital Nagasaki. Any recommendations for pen shop in Osaka? Thank you for the great video.

@@fjschnitzer1 Most of my energy went into looking for shops that have lots of interesting inks... I mostly ignored pens because there are TONS of pen shops (and good ones!) all over Japan... and I can't afford to buy another expensive pen in every city I visit 🙂 But in Osaka, the Hankyu has good pens and ink, Pelle Penna and Giftionery Delta, Morita Pens, and of course, the Nagasawa, all have good pens, too. But there are tons.

@@thewetpen Thank you

They do have some wonderful ink makers! To be fair, I specifically chose inks on this trip (and for these videos) that are hard or impossible to get in the USA so that people could see things that they wouldn't be able to otherwise... and a lot of them are available on the internet, too, for a price.

@@thewetpen still on the hunt for the vase bottle 😞

I really like Iroful for some inks. It's like Tomoe River in that with some inks, you get wonderful color and properties, but with others, you get a faded, dusty look.

Yes... it's funny: if you look closely at the video, you can see the price for this pen was 27,500 yen... about $188 USD, today, although a month or two ago, it would have been $160. But on the Hana-bi website, it's $330! So, it really made a difference getting this one in Japan.

@@thewetpen They have several things on that website that aren't as expensive that I like very much as well. Thanks for putting them on my radar.

Thanks! The Hana-bi pen is one that I enjoy a lot more on close inspection than overall impression, too... and it's very nice to write with.

Oh, nice! Glad you're enjoying the Inkvent videos :-) I need to go back and watch them to start preparing for this winter... in case I decide to do it again after all. Every year I swear that it's my last time.

@@thewetpen We're going to buy our own this year and I'll open them along with your videos, if you do them. He's 3 and is so excited when he sees the ink swabbed on the paper 😅 his favorite color is red and it's a bit harder to get him to sleep when he sees that color come out! I heard from Goulet that Colorverse is going to do their own Inkvent calendar this year. I think we will buy the Diamine as the Colorverse will be more expensive.

I love that this is a shared hobby and that he's been bitten by the fountain pen bug early 😁

I didn't have much of a chance to chat with him, unfortunately, but he was very friendly and willing to pose for photos :-) Such a cool place!

I'm a BIG fan of that pen! I'm still getting used to writing with that nib, and deciding whether I want to risk smoothing it a bit, but the line that it puts down is wonderful

Me, too!

Same here! Damn it is gorgeous

Oh wow! I wasn't even thinking about buying glass pens when I went... next time I'll have to schedule a visit to the studio, too :-) That sounds incredible

@@thewetpen He's fun to hang out with and you would do an amazing job filming or photographing his process. I was blown away that Lucas was so open to my husband and I just stopping by! All I had asked was where I could find one of his pens in Tokyo or Hakone. He was at the Stationery Fest in NY, earlier this month, which was a wonderful way for the U.S. market to get to know him.

@@kristiw.1823 InkyRocks did a video about him a year or two ago, and her videos are always amazing. I'd love to make the same type of video, but I'll have to find some new ground to cover 🙂

@@thewetpen That's how I learned about him. ☺

Thank you!

I can't wait for new colors. I love Deception Pass and Blackberry. Rachelle in Seattle

@@619to253 I'll be working on them! 🙂

You ran out before I could order. Your inks are popular.

@@tbayless8324 If you sign up for email notifications on the site, I'll send out those emails a few hours before the video announcement goes up, so you're more likely to get a shot at them before they sell out 🙂

Thanks 🙂 I've been working on this video off and on for weeks, but just shot that thumbnail this morning! Hope you enjoy the video!

​Great as always! I really enjoy your Japanese pen shop series, the way you tell the story of your trip is so engaging! I love the Teranishi inks and have quite a few in my slowly growing collection, I'll admit I started collecting them for the box art but I have them in my regular rotation.

Just finishing up the video... you can expect it tomorrow 🙂

Ahh, that's interesting... I wonder whether the box has changed since I got mine... I can't find any mention of it being pigment or dye based. Chawm did mention at one point that he thought that it was a dye-based ink, but I think that he was either mistaken, or perhaps was given some misinformation... many people are reluctant to use pigment inks. I believe that several other companies are similarly ambiguous about it... including Noodlers and Roher & Klingner. Or perhaps the distinction isn't as clear cut as I believe.

Looks like a nice pen. The next time I go back to India, I'll see if I can find one 🙂

I agree. I got used to it, and now I'm ready to buy another in another color 🙂

I agree... the scented inks from the more recent calendar were even more wet and feathery than this one, but they're all very nice and smooth. I believe that it's not alcohol but an emulsifier that is used to suspend the essential oil in the ink... probably a polysorbate, which also makes inks very wet and feathery.