Confessions of a Spanish Pen Addict. II.

In issue 76 (January 2026) of Shumi-no Bungubako (趣味の文具箱), I published the second instalment of the Confessions of a Spanish Pen Addict. On this occasion I wrote about the little-known Pilot Capless made in Brazil, a subject that has already been discussed on these pages (::1::, ::2::). For that reason --and because the relevant material is already available-- I will not be translating the original manuscript, which was written in Spanish, for... reasons.

In any case, those reasons provide a perfectly convenient excuse to release some information about these obscure pens in Spanish. English-speaking readers may refer to the previous Chronicles --inked above-- simply resort to any online translator. What we really need now is someone willing to contribute information in Portuguese and Japanese--something more substantial than the anodyne, self-censored drivel that certain pathologically timid magazines deem safe enough to publish.


La extraña Capless brasileña.

Una bitácora es, sobre todo, un mecanismo de difusión de contenidos. Pero, con el tiempo puede llegar a ser un canal de comunicación con otros aficionados. Escribir en inglés sobre el mundo estilográfico japonés, un ámbito a menudo protegido tras la muralla de su idioma, favorece esa comunicación. El resultado son consultas y comentarios enviados por aficionados a las plumas estilográficas de medio mundo. Y, a veces, las noticias son sorprendentes.

Hace unos tres años, un lector me escribió desde Brasil para contarme que tenía en su poder unas Pilot Capless fabricadas en ese país. Y hasta me envió fotos. En Tokyo consulté a los sospechosos habituales, un puñado de personas con mucha experiencia y conocimiento del universo estilográfico japonés. Entre ellos destacaba el añorado Sr. Niikura (新倉) (1942-2024), gran autoridad en Pilot. Todos reaccionamos con sorpresa y hasta escepticismo:

– Pero, ¿acaso alguna vez las Capless se fabricaron fuera de Japón? – preguntó uno de nosotros.

La Capless brasileña en su caja. Foto de Tommy Lanceley.

Trasladamos la pregunta obvia a Pilot Japón, pero la respuesta no arrojó ninguna información: Pilot no tiene registros de la producción fuera de las fronteras japonesas.

Tuvimos que esperar unos meses para poder tener alguna de esas plumas en las manos: mi lector tenía una visita pendiente a Japón y aprovechamos para organizar un pequeño encuentro alrededor de esas Capless misteriosas. Y es que en ausencia de información oficial no hay nada como leer la pluma para empezar a entender de qué hablamos.

En términos generales, tal y como se puede ver en la fotos, la Capless brasileña pertenece a la serie C-300GW comercializada incialmente en Japón a partir de 1964. Pero hay detalles en ella que la diferencian claramente del modelo japonés. El ejemplar brasileño emplea un plumín de acero, sin fecha de producción, mientras que la versión japonesa utiliza un plumín de oro de 14 quilates, acompañado del logo JIS (Japan Industrial Standards) y del año y mes de fabricación. Los anillos centrales del cuerpo son también diferentes: cóncavo el japonés, levemente convexo el brasileño.

Plumín de acero para la brasileña, de oro para la japonesa. Foto de Tommy Lanceley.

El detalle más revelador, sin embargo, reside en los grabados. En el cuerpo de la versión brasileña puede leerse “PILOT / IND. BRASILEIRA”, y en su plumín, la abreviatura “PILOT / IND. BRAS.”. Por el contrario, la Capless japonesa exhibe el habitual “MADE IN JAPAN” en ambos lugares. El origen brasileño queda, por tanto, aclarado.

La Capless brasileña en el centro. Nótense las diferencias en el anillo central. Foto de Tommy Lanceley.

Así que, efectivamente, nos encontramos con una pluma semejante pero también diferente a un modelo bien conocido en Japón. Y si bien Pilot cuenta con una factoría en São Paulo desde 1954, no sabemos si esta Capless se fabricó íntegramente en Brasil o si simplemente se ensambló en Brasil a partir de piezas enviadas desde Japón. Los grabados “IND. BRASILEIRA” y la ausencia de la marca JIS, sin embargo, apuntan a la primera hipótesis.

Por otro lado, ¿durante qué años se produjo y se vendió? ¿Se vendió exclusivamente en el mercado brasileño o llegó a otros países de América del Sur? ¿Cuántas se fabricaron? ¿En qué colores se ofreció?

En fin, muchas preguntas sin respuesta inspiradas por una humilde pluma que nadie parece conocer. Una pluma que, por otro lado, no es más que una nota al pie de página de la historia inacabada de Pilot en general y de la Capless en particular. Pero es la rareza lo que de verdad atrae al coleccionista. Ahora bien, esta Capless brasileña quedaría arrinconada en un cajón ignorada por todos si no hubiera un mínimo de información pública sobre ella.

Por ello crear y mantener canales de comunicación a través de publicaciones impresas y redes sociales es importante para coleccionistas e historiadores. Y es que hay plumas e información que no aparece en los registros oficiales de las marcas y hay mucho que la memoria colectiva de los aficionados y coleccionistas puede ofrecer.

Universal with music nib – Kingdom Note Kawaratake

Bruno Taut
November 2025 and March 10th 2026
etiquetas: Pilot, Capless, Brasil

Madrid 2026

I did not want to keep talking about pen shows and similar events. I thought I had already written a tad too much on the matter, but about two weeks ago Pens and Friends, the organizers of the Madrid Pen Show, announced that they were stepping down from that role. The consequences are obvious—as of today, there will not be a 22nd edition of the Madrid Pen Show in 2026. Is there any hope in the form of a new organizer?

Ten years ago...

Back in November 2025, in the aftermath of the last edition, I wrote a text explaining what I saw as a decline in the event. In summary, I argued that the Madrid Pen Show had two main problems—an ageing public and an expensive city—and these are bound to remain for a while regardless of the organizers. Still, I would like to offer my two cents’ worth of reflections on how a new team could approach a renewed version of the Madrid Pen Show:

1 ・Different dates.
In the not-so-distant past, there was a global calendar of pen shows. According to it, Madrid was held on the third weekend of November -occasionally on the second-, and following that schedule was key to attracting some important dealers. However, new pen events have crowded the calendar and scheduled their shows whenever they see fit.

In this new context, Madrid could adopt the same strategy in order to reduce organizational costs.

2 ・A smaller and shorter event.
With the same goal of reducing costs, the three-day event of 2025 could be shortened to a single day with a smaller number of dealers.

3 ・Attracting new audiences.
The new event should also aim to attract younger and new audiences. Marketing through social media and expanding beyond fountain pens could serve this purpose.

4 ・Local and professional organization.
The organization must be based in Madrid, as it is hardly feasible to organize such an event remotely in Spain. It should also aim to be professional rather than relying solely on the enthusiasm and personal commitment of a small number of individuals.

Announcement on Facebook, January 15th 2026.

For now, however, Madrid has no pen show. But does this city deserve one? Only time will tell.

And I promise I did not intend to write about events for a while…

Parker T1 – Faber-Castell Königsblau

Bruno Taut
January 28th, 2026
label: evento, Madrid, mercado

Confessions of a Spanish Pen Addict. I.

Last September I started a collaboration with the magazine Shumi-no Bungubako (趣味の文具箱) under the generic title “Confessions of a Spanish Pen Addict”. My first text was this piece “East Meets West” on some old topic included on these Crónicas Estilográficas you are now reading.

Repetitive as this text might be, it can also work as a contrast to the new ways seen in Istanbul that I described on my previous text.


East Meets West

My relationship with fountain pens started in high school in Spain. My first workhorse was a plasticky Waterman Jif —an excellent, even if simple, scholar fountain pen.

Waterman Jif.

The hobby came after years of using fountain pens of all kinds —good and bad, smooth and scratchy. Already living in Japan I needed a new tool to write with. I made an Internet search for information about pens in Tokyo and it gave me my first insight on Japanese fountain pens by the hand of the Pilot Myu 701. This beautiful pen triggered my interest for pens in general. Then I digged deeper. That was about twenty years ago. And four years later, I started my blog “Crónicas Estilográficas” where I mostly write about Japanese fountain pens.

Pilot Myu 701.

I attended my first pen show in 2009. It was the sixth edition of the Madrid Pen Show, the pen show of my hometown. It was a wonderful experience: an endless collection of pens and a generous community of enthusiasts willing to share their knowledge. The event gathered about 50 dealers and about 1000 visitors during three days in november.

Since then, I have visited many more pen shows, and I have gained some experience in navigating them, as they are always overwhelming: so many pens and so many dealers, but also so little money.

Madrid Pen Show in 2024.

But I live in Japan, and the scenario here is very different. At that time, 2010-15, there were frequent pen meetings in the Tokyo area –and in Japan in general. They were common, but also small: about a couple of dozen participants at most, and not that many pens for sale.

It was only in 2018 that Tokyo witnessed something resembling a true pen show: the Tokyo International Pen Show, better known as TIPS. Since that year, TIPS has been held every autumn and has grown steadily in reputation and attendance. But is it truly comparable to the grand pen shows of Madrid, London, or Utrecht, to name just a few?

European pen shows are, at their core, about fountain pens. Of course, there are always some dealers offering paper, ink, and other accessories, but these are secondary. The fountain pen is the king. And perhaps because of that focus, attendees are mostly middle-aged or older, and predominantly male.

By contrast, TIPS and other events of the type in Japan are broader in scope —they celebrate stationery culture in general. At these events, fountain pens, mostly new, are only a very small portion of what is on display. The majority of tables feature almost anything but pens: notebooks, fancy paper, stickers, ink stamps, masking tapes, and, above all, new inks. The visitors are also very different: younger, often in their twenties and thirties, and with a strong presence of women.

Tokyo International Pen Show, TIPS, in 2019.

As interesting as these events are, they might not be the primary destination for fountain pen lovers in search of unique pens in Japan. Instead, such collectors could do much better by looking to the smaller groups of aficionados whose regular gatherings, though modest in scale, are specifically dedicated to fountain pens.

Reagardless of its commercial focus, the example of TIPS poses an important question: how sustainable is the European model for pen shows? Their audience may be loyal and relatively wealthy, but they are also aging, and there is hardly a new generation of pen lovers ready to take over. Pen show organizers in Europe may then need to look at events like TIPS for inspiration, especially when it comes to attracting younger customers.

On the other hand, the TIPS model is not without problems. Its very broad scope, particularly in a country so rich in stationery goods as Japan, makes it easy to replicate. In fact, in recent years we have seen a proliferation of similar stationery markets and fairs. At times, it has seemed as though there was one such event almost every month. Is there room for so many? To stand out, organizers might want to study the European model, where specialization and focus provide a clear identity.

Ultimately, my only wish is to keep attending these gatherings, both in Europe and in Japan, for many years to come. Pen shows —whether in Madrid, Hamburg or Tokyo— are enjoyable events where a personal passion becomes communal. But for this to happen, the shows themselves must adapt, evolve, and survive.

Pilot Elabo – Pilot Black

Bruno Taut
August 25th and December 31st, 2025
etiquetas: evento, mercado, Madrid, Tokyo

Crossroads

I can count up to eight pen shows (but what is a pen show, anyway?) held this past November—Tokyo, Istanbul, Madrid, Budapest, Paris, Melbourne, Singapore, and Bologna. But for the sake of this text, I will focus my attention on just three of them: the Tokyo International Pen Show (Nov 1–3), Pen Fest Istanbul (Nov 8–9), and the Madrid Pen Show (Nov 14–16).

I will begin by stating that I attended only two of them—Tokyo and Madrid. As I have often said on these pages and even in the printed publication Shumi-no Bungubako (趣味の文具箱), they are two primary examples of the basic models of pen shows—the Western and the East Asian. And they went as expected: plenty of stationery in Tokyo and a strong presence of vintage pens in Madrid. Both were successful events.

In Tokyo, about 150 dealers attracted over 3,000 visitors in three days (entry fees ranged from JPY 1,000—about EUR 6—to JPY 3,000 per day, or JPY 5,000 for a three-day pass; table fee: JPY 40,000, or EUR 225). Everything looked business as usual. The formula is well established, and it works. Limited as it is in the vintage and used pen area, TIPS has the merit of attracting small companies to display their goods to a mildly international audience. The only drawback might be the relatively small number of visitors compared to the large number of dealers, as well as the proliferation of similar events in Tokyo. The good part? The exhibition area is never crowded.

TIPS 2025.

In Madrid, over 1,500 visitors attended an event with around 60 dealers (free entry; EUR 360 per table). However, attendance figures in Madrid must be taken with a pinch of salt, as a free-access event makes accurate counting more difficult.

Still, the Madrid Pen Show showed some signs of exhaustion, as if that model had already reached its full potential and could only decline from here. The reasons are both circumstantial and structural.

Madrid has become a very expensive city, and for the first time in years the organisers are reporting some losses. The cost of the city also deterred many regulars from attending the event—accommodation, some said, was prohibitively expensive. But the main problem is the age of the regular attendee. We are old, and there is hardly a younger generation of aficionados ready to take over and generate the necessary demand.

Madrid Pen Show 2025.

Madrid, I believe, is at a crossroads—the formula that has worked for 21 editions may no longer be the right one in 2025. And the way out of this situation might be found in Istanbul.

Pen Fest Istanbul, now in its fourth edition, showed some remarkable numbers: 63 dealers and about 8,000 visitors in just two days (entry fee: TRY 500—EUR 10; table fee: TRY 40,000—EUR 800).

But what is more interesting from the outside is the combination of the two basic pen show models in a single event. As we can see in Miroslav Tichsler’s video, Istanbul offered new and old pens, stationery, pen fixers, and nib tuners—an exciting mix indeed.

Penkala´s video of the 2025 Pen Fest Istanbul.

Istanbul, at the crossroads between Europe and Asia, might very well represent the future of pen shows: the sweet spot between the declining Western tradition and the rising force of the Eastern aficionado.

Hongdian N6 Long Knife– Platinum Black

Bruno Taut
December 3rd, 2025
etiquetas: evento, mercado, Madrid, Tokyo, Istanbul

The Litmus Test

Within a newspaper, there is often tension between two departments that are, at least in theory, far apart: accounting and editorial. While the journalist focuses on reality, the accountant ensures that the books balance — and those books largely depend on the advertising the publication attracts to its pages. The conflict arises when a news story is critical of a company that advertises in that same medium.

– “But did you really have to publish that? Couldn’t you give it a softer tone?”

This conflict is unavoidable, but it is also survivable. The powers at work manage their differences because the field covered by news reporting is much broader than the specific interests of any single advertiser. Thus, the publication does not depend excessively on any one external source of funding.

A very different situation arises when the publication’s raison d’être is the consumer goods available on the market — and there are many such publications, particularly in Japan. Their fields are diverse: cars, watches, fashion, gastronomy…

Publications in Japan.

And the problem now is obvious — the number of potential advertisers is very limited, and the publication becomes more vulnerable to any negative reaction its reporting might provoke.
But who is the reader of the publication? For whom is it produced? Where does the publication’s loyalty truly lie?

Beyond polite words and public relations, the litmus test is simple: does that publication ever say anything negative about a product? According to them, is there a bad car on the market? A bad watch? A bad pen? Do they ever dare to publish a negative review?

Because at the end of the day, they must decide whether they are in the business of reporting — or in the business of collecting advertisements.

Mannenhitsu-no Yamada – Akkerman #13 Simpliest Violet


Bruno Taut
October 28th, 2025
etiquetas: mercado, publicaciones

The Lonesome Death of the Pilot Petit

New pens are widely advertised―and that makes sense. Makers need to recoup the investment made to develop and market them. The fanfare and drumroll are loud, designed to create a sense of anticipation in buyers.

Conversely, when a model is discontinued, its demise is silent—almost secret. The pen simply vanishes from the catalog.

Such was the case of the Pilot Petit, which disappeared from the catalog sometime in 2025.

The three generations of the Pilot Petit 1.

This family of pens was first launched in 2010 and went through three different generations. It was an inexpensive model—JPY 300 for the first iteration and JPY 200 for the rest (..2.., ..3..)— with only one nib option, F. The nib unit was shared with the nominally disposable Vpen (also known as the Pilot “Prince of Wales”), in which both F and M points were available.

All three generations—plus the additional signature pen (Petit 2) and brush pen (Petit 3) introduced in the second generation—used the same type of dedicated ink cartridge. These cartridges were specific to the series because their size prevented the use of any Pilot converter or regular cartridge—they simply did not fit inside.

Petit vs. regular Pilot cartridges.

Now, about 15 years after its debut, the Pilot Petit is no more. Pilot has phased it out, and it is hard to find any leftover stock—even in those small stationery shops that time forgot. The spare cartridges now appear as “available while stocks last,” suggesting they are no longer manufactured.

The typical presentation of the Pilot Petit spare cartridges from the second generation on. Its price, JPY 100, plus taxes.

The consequences are clear: for how long will we be able to use our Pilot Petit pens? Surely, we will treasure and refill the old cartridges, but how long will they last before cracking?

And that is the problem with creating pens that rely on unique systems—they are highly vulnerable to marketing decisions. And the Petit is gone with the cartridge.

Pilot Décimo – Pilot Black

Bruno Taut
October 7th, 2025
etiquetas: Pilot, mercado, conversor

TIPS et al.

To anyone who has read my texts on the Tokyo International Pen Show (TIPS) over the years, it will come as no surprise that I am not particularly fond of the format. My main complaint —allow me to reiterate— is that, despite its name, TIPS is not truly a pen show, but rather a stationery salon where companies —makers, retailers, artisans— gather to showcase their products. Occasionally, you may come across some used pens, but they are far from being the main attraction of the event.

However, the show works—and it works very well—with thousands of visitors attending each edition. So, all is well, and the concept, for the most part, is unlikely to change. The problem, though, is that its formula is simple—and easy to replicate. And that is exactly what’s happening.

TIPS 2024.

TIPS is built on the idea of attracting all kinds of businesses related to stationery. You then gather them in one room and hope people will come. And they do!

In a country like Japan, with its rich stationery culture, this model is easy to reproduce. Bungu Market, Shumi-no Bungu Matsuri, and Bungu Joshi are just some of the stationery events held in Tokyo throughout the year—sometimes even multiple times a year!

Bungu Market in Ota ward in Tokyo. January 2025. This event is celebrated 4 times per year, and there are other Bungu Market events in other locations—Osaka, Fukuoka, Kyoto... .

Bungu Joshi in June 2025 (https://youtu.be/pApUJqImr1c?si=-HXWmzS4Ed22tp_z). Twice a year event.

Shumi-no Bungu Matsuri. Organized by the magazine Shumi-no Bungubako. July 2025. Photo courtesy of Inktraveler.

TIPS may have been the early bird that caught the worm, but it is no longer unique. Both visitors and locals now have the option to choose which event to attend, and they are no longer bound to being in Tokyo in November to see the latest in stationery. Time will tell whether the market is large enough to sustain so many shows.

Jinhao 82 ― Private Reserve Dakota Red

Bruno Taut
July 25th, 2025
etiquetas: Tokyo, evento, mercado