This new Shikiori series is inspired by Japanese fairy tales that take place in four different seasons. Shikiori is a well-known multi-series by Sailor and Sailor has released many Shikiori series in sets of fours. And these are the newest Shikiori series. From left to right are spring, summer, fall and winter. The story behind Dragon Palace represents spring, with an image of jewelry/jade box. Vega represents summer, with an image of deep blue milky way that Vega travels through in the sky. Princess Kaguya represents fall, with an image of bright red cloth worn by the Princess. Grateful Crane...

Kadokeshi is a Japanese combination of the words, corner (kado) and eraser (keshigomu). The 28 corners of this eraser ensure that there is always a sharp corner and straight edge for precise erasing. Designed by Hideo Kambara, the Kadokeshi eraser is both aesthetic and practical. This eraser was included in MoMA’s 2004 “Humble Masterpieces” exhibition and now exists as part of the Museum’s permanent collection.

Happy Earth Day everyone! Since it’s Earth Day, we wanted to highlight companies like Uni for continuing to innovate and reinvent great stationery by making them more sustainable and recyclable! Last September, Uni Mitsubishi released their Limex Ballpoint pen. This new material, Limex, is mainly made of limestone that can be found in natural supply around the world, and is a highly recyclable and sustainable paper- and plastic-alternative. The Uni Limex is essentially identical to one of Uni’s classic ballpoint pens, the Boxy 100 that was released more than 40 years before and became very popular in Japan. Just like the original...

We just finished one more ink guide yesterday and this new series is Nagasawa Kobe Ink, a collaboration between Nagasawa and Sailor. Nagasawa stationery in based in Kobe, Japan, and founded in 1882. The whole series has 74 colors, and in the US, there’s 26 colors available currently. It features local views and places around Kobe city to tell the stories of Kobe in its colorful way. Thanks to quarantine, we get to finish a lot more ink guides that would have taken us months to finish : ) Here's some inks that we added during quarantine, with total of 66...

Hi friends! Soraya here from Yoseka Stationery. I've been at home writing and embroidering but I've been missing the store so much! Read on to learn about how I've been using letter writing to stay connected with my loved ones.  Working as a graphic designer and embroidery artist had turned my hands into keyboards and sewing needles. “I have to write more,” I would say to myself as I picked up my phone and fired off multiple emails. The feeling of pen to paper started feeling foreign to me, almost like a child holding a crayon for the first time....

One of our the newest store additions is Uni-Ball One. The Uni-Ball One is a gel pen with more vivid pigmented gel ink that doesn’t bleed though paper easily. And yesterday we did a test to compare the black color between different pens. Not all of the pens here are gel. Some of the pens are actually oil-based, which you can see a slight metallic reflection in closeup (bottom photo). The Uni-Ball One does have a really dark color, and more vivid color for sure. Most pens have really comparable darkness, with Hi-Tec-C, Sarasa slightly stand out. Many people asked about...

An inspiring quote quote from the bottom of my Hobonichi planner a couple of days ago. “Did anything good happen today?” Yesterday I wrote a letter to my friend Ginger. The feeling of finishing a letter and then getting to the part when you are decorating the envelope and paper for the receiver is so rewarding, and the feeling of anticipation for the moment when your friend receives the letter is great as well.Here is the whole quote for those interested. It is from April 8, 2020. It’s a quote from Masako Ito and tells the story of an interaction...

SARASA Grand in Vintage Colors. In 2016, Zebra released SARASA Clip in vintage colors, and they were extended to total of 10 colors in 2019. At the time, there were already 40 other SARASA Clip colors, but the vintage colors became a lot more popular. For those who haven’t tried them yet, the ink color matches the body, and they comes in unique colors such as camera yellow, bordeaux purple, sepia black etc. The regular SARASA Clips come in regular plastic body, but these new SARASA Grand come in a heavier metallic body with matte finish. With the new bodies,...

Friday, March 13th was the last day that Yoseka was open and the last time our shop was operating normally. This was only three Fridays ago, but it feels like much longer. Each day since that day has brought many changes--news announcements and official statements led us to make the decision to close the store to browsing the following week and then ultimately to close our brick and mortar shop until news of the pandemic gets better. Reading back on our journal entries over the past few weeks truly reflects how much things have evolved in the world around us. Over...

Every month, we look back on new store additions, and reflect on things that happened in the past month. This past month has been the craziest and what feels like the longest month. Constant changes have affected everything and everyone. Adjusting to new routines takes time and it’s challenging, but it feels great to be able to break things down and solve problems one by one. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but we know we will continue to do what we love and keep moving forward during this time. We have added a lot of new stationery this...