Tokyo - April 2010

An updated version of this post can be found on this page in this blog. This text, however, will remain here as a landing mark for those coming from non updated websites. Updated version.


(Second edition of this post)
Over the years I have learned about where to find and buy fountain pens in this city. The summary of my findings is this report. But by no means is this list complete. I wanted to note, though, that the very traditional pen shop Juzensha, near Omori Station, is no longer in business.


Second hand shops:

1. Lemon
www.lemonsha.com

Photography and other “otaku” goods with a small section of pens. It offers discount prices for new goods.

Ginza Kyokaido Building 8F
4-2-1 Ginza (Sotobori Dori)
Chuo, Tokyo 104-0061
Phone: 03-3567-3131
See map.

Mo-Sa: 11:00-20:00
Su: 11:00-17:00


2. Eurobox
www.euro-box.com

Vintage pen shop in Tokyo.

Okuno Building 4F
1-9-8 407 Ginza
Chuo, Tokyo 104-0061
Tel: 03-3538-8388
Fax: 03-3538-6313
See map.

Th: 11:30-19:00
Sa: 11:30-18:00
(Usual opening days. Check website).


3. Pen Cluster
www.pencluster.com

Small shop dedicated, mostly, to foreign pens. Repair service available.

Wind Ginza 2 Building 3F
1-20-3 Ginza
Chuo, Tokyo 104-0061
Phone: 03-3564-6331
See map.

Tu-Fr: 12:30-19:00
Sa-Su: 12:30-18:00


4. Map Camera-Kingdom Note (New pens at catalog prices, and used pens)
www.kingdomnote.com

1-12-5 Nishi Shinjuku, 6F
Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0023
Phone: 03-3342-7911
See map.

Mo-Su: 10:30-20:30


Discount shops:

5. Sekaido
www.sekaido.co.jp

Big art supply shop with a decent department of fountain pens and fine writing utensils. The good point of this shop is the discount, up to 25%, they offer with the membership card. It costs Y500 for two years. This shop has several branches, not all carrying fountain pens. The main store is in Shinjuku (5A), and in the West side of the station there is a branch (5B):

5A. Sekaido Head Office.
3-1-1 Shinjuku
Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-002
Phone: 03-5379-1111
See map.

Mo-Su: 9:30-21:00

5B. Sekaido Nishi Shinjuku
1-11-11 Nishi Shinjuku
Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0023
Phone: 03-3346-1515
See map.

Mo-Su: 9:30-20:00


6. Yodobashi Camera
www.yodobashi.com

Several branches. For fountain pens, check big stores:

6A. Yodobashi Shinjuku Nishiguchi Honten (West side)
1-11-1 Nishi-Shinjuku
Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0023
Phone: 03-3346-1010
See map.

Mo-Su: 9:30-22:00


6B. Yodobashi Akiba (Akihabara)
1-1 Kanda Hanaoka
Chiyoda, Tokyo 101-0028
Phone: 03-5209-1010
See map.

Mo-Su: 9:30-22:00


6C. Yodobashi Ueno
4-10-10 Ueno
Taito, Tokyo 110-005
Phone: 03-3837-1010
See map.

Mo-Su: 9:30-22:00


6D. Yodobashi Yokohama
1-2-7 Kita Saiwai
Yokohama, Kanagawa 220-0004
Phone: 045-313-1010
See map.

Mo-Su: 9:30-22:00


7. Mori-ichi
http://www.moriichi.net/index.html

This stationery shop has some pens at discount prices—about 30%. The selection has decreased in the last two years. It is located on Chuo Dori, almost in front of the Pilot Pen Station, further north towards Nihonbashi.

1-3-2 Kyobashi
Chuo, Tokyo 104-0031
Phone: 03-3281 3228
See map.

Mo-Fr: 9:00-18:00

Shops in Ameyoko (Ueno-Okachimachi):
Under the tracks of Yamanote line between Okachimachi and Ueno stations there is this big market where you can find almost all kinds of goods. Among them, five shops where you can find pens with discounts between 30% and 40%. They are focused on imported pens, but in some of the shops (Ameyoko Mito and Tachibana, at least) you can also find Japanese brands.

See map for the location of Ameyoko Market.


8. Ameyoko Mito
www.ameyokomito.com

6-10-7 Ueno
Taito, Tokyo 110-0005
Phone: 03-3833-5280
See map for the location of Ameyoko Market.
Location of Ameyoko Mito.

Mo-Su: 10:00-18:30

9. Asahi Shokai

6-4-12 Ueno
Taito, Tokyo 110-0005
Phone: 03-3834-4771, 03-3834-4772
See map for the location of Ameyoko Market.
See map under the tracks.


10. Daiya Sutoa

6-4-12 Ueno
Taito, Tokyo 110-0005
Phone: 03-3831-8092
See map for the location of Ameyoko Market.
See map under the tracks.


11. Tachibana Shokai

6-4-6 Ueno
Taito, Tokyo 110-0005
Phone: 03-3831-4800
See map for the location of Ameyoko Market.
See map under the tracks.

Mo-Su: 11:00-18:00


12. Marui
www.ameyokonet.jp/marui

6-4-4 Ueno
Taito, Tokyo 110-0005
Phone: 03-3831-7145
See map for the location of Ameyoko Market.
See map under the tracks.

Location of four of the five pen shops in Ameyoko Market.

Regular price shops:

Many shops, including most department stores carry fountain pens. Most of them at regular catalog prices. Eventually, it might be possible to find some “New Old Stock” (NOS) pens on them. Following there is a selection of some of these shops.


13. Maruzen
http://www.maruzen.co.jp/top/index.html

Maruzen is a bookshop with a large stationery section. It has a number of branches, most of which carry fountain pens at regular catalog prices. Among those, the head office in Nihonbashi, and that in Oazo Building in Marunouchi are the most interesting.
Maruzen carries its own brand of ink (Athena), and of pens (Century), and there are some special editions of pens by major companies for this shop alone.

13A. Maruzen Nihonbashi
3-10-2 Nihonbashi
Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Phone: 03-3272 7211
See map.


13B. Maruzen Oazo
1-6-4 Marunouchi
Chiyoda, Tokyo 100-0005
Phone: 03-5288-8881
See map.

Mo-Su: 9:00-21:00


14. Kyukyodo
http://www.kyukyodo.co.jp

Very traditional, and very old (founded in 1663), Japanese stationery. The main branch is located right on Ginza crossing. It has a small selection of Japanese and foreign pens.

5-7-4 Ginza
Chuo, Tokyo 104-0061
Phone: 03-3571 4429
See map.

Mo-Sa: 10:00-19:30
Su: 11:00-19:30

Location of pen shops in Ginza: Lemon, Kyukyodo, Itoya, Eurobox, and Pen Cluster.

15. Itoya
http://www.ito-ya.co.jp/

Itoya is a large stationery and art supply shop. There are some pens made exclusively for Itoya.

2-7-5 Ginza
Chuo, Tokyo 104-0061
Phone: 03-3561 8311
See map.

Mo-Sa: 10:30-20:00
Su: 10:30-19:00

This main branch has a pen repair service.


16. Pilot Pen Station
http://www.pilot.co.jp

This is a museum and a café owned by the pen company Pilot. There are no sales in here, but they provide a repair service for their own brand.

2-6-21 Kyobashi
Chuo, Tokyo 104-8304
Phone: 03-3538 3700
See map.

Mo-Fr: 8:00 - 19:00 (museum: 9:30-17:00)
Sa: 11:00-17:00


17. Shosaikan
http://www.shosaikan.co.jp/

Probably, the most beautiful pen shop in the world. And that makes a real experience to visit and, eventually, to buy a pen at this shop.

5-13-11 Minami Aoyama
Minato, Tokyo 107-0062
Phone: 03-3400 3377
See map.

Mo-Su: 11:00-20:00

Shosaikan also has two branches in Haneda Airport, on terminals 1 and 2.


18. Fullhalter
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/fullhalter/

This is a very small shop run by a nib master who prepares some commercial pens –smoothing the nibs, altering them in some special way, etc. The selling price is the same as in other shops.
Higashi Oi is near Oimachi station along the JR Keihin-Tohoku line.

5-26-20 Higashi Oi
Shinagawa, Tokyo
Phone: 03-3471-7378
See map.

Mo-Sa: 10:00-18:00


19. Kinpendo

Traditional pen shop located in bookshop-rich Kanda district. Mostly imported pens at regular catalog prices. The owner seems to tune the nibs of the expensive pens.

1-4 Jinbocho
Chiyoda, Tokyo
Tel: 03-3293-8186
See map.


Flea markets

Flea markets are a usual place to find hidden treasures. I will speak about them in a different blog entry.

This is it by now. Hope you can take advantage of this list.


View Fountain Pens in Tokyo in a larger map

(Pilot R lever filler – Pelikan Royal Blue)

Bruno Taut
(Inagi, April-May 2010)
[labels: Tokyo]