Even if that was true, on-line trade does challenge that old structure of exclusive distributors associated to a well-defined location. Japanese pen companies might not like this idea, but there is not much they can do.
However, anchored as these companies are in this old model, they insist in marketing products just for certain markets. Then, in the same way as there are JDM pens and inks, there are Japanese products that are not distributed in Japan.
Such is the case of the following Capless “Black Stripes”:
Black Stripes.
But it can be found on-line. And whether this is better or worse, prettier of uglier than those regularly sold in Japan might be a matter of availability.
Assorted Capless, some made for non-Japanese markets.
After all, the grass is always greener on the other side of the border.
Nuart Antigua's Akatamenuri - Sailor Wagner ca 2010
Bruno Taut
September 1st, 2022
labels: Pilot, Capless, mercado
Bruno Taut
September 1st, 2022
labels: Pilot, Capless, mercado
5 comments:
A beutiful one in my opinion. This only-for-specific-market way centainly makes it more difficult to find the special ones, but in a globalized world we live... well... internet and friends turn it easier 😊
Gorgeous Nuart oen, btw.
These days with the Internet and the likes of Amazon, Ebay, Rakuten, etc., buying products that are "locked in" to the Japan Domestic Market (JDM) from outside the JDM is pretty easy. Pilot/Namiki and every one of their exclusive foreign distributors HATES this! But buying against the evil will of these greedy people is often the only way to get a reasonable price or even to be able to buy a Pilot product at all. Case in point: What if you do not live in Japan but you want to buy a Pilot Custom Heritage (CH) 743 fountain pen with a semi-flex FA nib. Normally you can't, Pilot refuses to officially allow the CH 743 pen to be sold anywhere outside of Japan. However through the power of the Internet the CH 743 pens manage to "leak" out to the rest of the world anyway. Pilot hates this because they are obsessed with control versus making money. Pilot's exclusive distributors hate this because they cannot double the price of the pen sold in their respective country or region. In business and finance taking advantage of a difference in prices in two or more markets is called arbitrage.[1] One way for Pilot and their greedy exclusive distributors to maintain product control is to release products that are "limited" by quantity and geographic region.
* References:
1. Arbitrage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbitrage
Thanks, Papish and Anonymous, for your comments.
And against arbitrage, online shopping. Now it is easier than ever.
Thank you both!
BT
I think the one on the far right in the image - with the indented band - is not a "true" capless, but a Majohn(?) knockoff. Might be wrong, but it doesn't look like the rest of them.
Bryan,
That pen you mentioned is the Capless LS, released by Pilot by the end of 2019: https://estilofilos.blogspot.com/2020/06/luxury-and-silent-ii-analysis.html
Thanks for passing by and commenting.
Cheers,
BT
Post a Comment
Your comments are welcome and appreciated.