Hi, it’s Jane again! Today, I’m writing about the rich history of one of Sailor’s most popular specialty nibs, the Naginata Togi. With its taller height and curved foot, which is created by grinding and shaping the tip of a Sailor 21k nib, it’s named after the naginata, a traditional spear favored by foot soldiers (ashigaru), warrior monks (souhei), and warrior noblewomen (onna-bugeisha) in feudal Japan. The curved tip creates brush-like strokes with variable width, depending on how you angle the pen, and lends the nib especially well to writing kanji.       Although the Naginata Togi was officially...

Happy August everyone! July has been a bit of a whirlwind. Our team has been busy making some updates to the website, adding a lot of new products, and shooting some fun videos on YouTube. After receiving some helpful feedback about how browsing for ink samples was a little bit of a challenge on our website, we added a special feature for browsing stationery items with color options. For these, you can now hover over a little icon with the color option to see if it’s out of stock or to add it to your cart. We also added a...

In this episode of Inside My Pen Case, we invite artist and friend Radhia Rahman to show us her favorite tools that she keeps in her TWO pen cases! Many of us can probably relate to not being able to choose just one! Although most of her work is digital, a lot of Radhia’s process begins in her sketchbook. It was such a treat to see how Radhia uses her favorite instruments to write and draw, and the tour of her pen case and sketchbook were especially colorful, just like Radhia. Hope you all enjoy this one and be sure...

This week, we worked on a very colorful and fun update to our website. For stationery items with color options, we try to represent them as close as possible with small images. The photo above is taken from Sailor Ink Studio Ink Sample.  If the color is out of stock, it's crossed out. And when it's hovered over, it shows the name of the color. Clicking on the out of stock color shows an additional "Email When Available" option for you the leave your email. Next time when we add it back, you will receive a restock notification automatically!  Here...

In this video, Jane and I go over some of our favorite mechanical pencil special features! From rotating lead to shaker advancement mechanism to sliding sleeve mechanism and more, mechanical pencils have been the source of a lot of innovation and reinvention among Japan's biggest stationery brands. We highlight some of the most noteworthy mechanical pencils that have some of these special features, and at the end, we even share one that has had quite some historical significance and influence in the stationery world! Hope you all enjoy this video and learn something new about mechanical pencils : )A Comparison...

Hi! This is Jane, and I’m reporting back from a deep dive on a rare LIFE product we just added to the shop. The LIFE Chit Book is a vintage ledger-style hardcover notebook with a classic rounded-back binding that allows the book to lie flat. Blotters in between each page protect fountain pen ink from smudging onto the page opposite, and perforated corners that can be torn off help you keep track of which page you’re on.         “Hold on,” you might be thinking. “What the heck is a chit book?” Great question — I also had no...

Our friend Meagan is an amazing illustrator, watercolor artist and urban sketcher and we were so excited to have her show us what's inside her pen case--or actually, her pen roll! Find out what her favorite tools are for sketching and watercoloring on the go. I had such a good time chatting with Meagan and recalling how we first met at the shop and finding out more about her process when she creates. Hope you all enjoy this one! Here are some of Meagan’s favorites in her pen case: Peg and Awl Mini Artist RollPentel Arts Aquash Water BrushPentel Arts...

Happy July everyone! It has been quite hot and steamy here in New York, and we hear in many parts of the country right now! Hope everyone (and your dogs and cats) are staying close to their air conditioners and staying hydrated :)Last month was an exciting one for stationery lovers and Sailor lovers in particular. Their long-awaited Sailor Shikiori Amaoto Sound of Rain fountain pens were finally released here in the US and we're so happy to see that everyone is loving theirs. In addition to these, of course we've added lots of new stationery. Here at the shop, we are...

For a long time, Neil and I have been thinking it would be a really cute idea to invite guests and have them share their pen cases with us, and we just uploaded our first “Inside My Pen Case with Miwa Neishi” video on Youtube! I'm thrilled that our friend, amazing ceramic artist, Miwa, could be the first person we could do this with. In the video, we chat with Miwa about her work, how we met, and all the treasures inside Miwa's adorable pink pen case — from her favorite mechanical pencil for drafting letters to her trusty box...

Earlier last week, we received a question from a customer asking about a stamp that we had used in one of our YouTube videos featuring a fountain pen or quill, and in general asking for recommendations for stamps that included any fountain pen/stationery motifs. I knew exactly the one he was referring to and in our response, we included several other recommendations for stamps with a stationery motif and this got me thinking, we really do have a lot of stationery-themed stationery! It's not a surprise at all since we truly cannot resist anything with a stationery motif. Seriously, all you need...