Pelikan in Japan (I)

The star of the season, fountain pen wise, is undoubtedly the newly released Pelikan M800 with tortoise shell finish.

As we know, there is a precedent to this pen—the elusive M800 tortoise-shell released in 1987 in a very limited number of pens. The official story, by Pelikan in the voice of the official archivist Jürgen Dittmer, speaks of this pen as commissioned by some Spanish retailers. Some rumours even mentioned some shop by the name of “galeria”, that could very well be the now defunct department store Galerías Preciados. However, nobody in Spain seems to know anything about this story, and nobody in Spanish speaking fora acknowledged owning one of these pens.

The 1987 Pelikan M800 in brown tortoise shell.

Other voices speak of this 1987 pen as made especially for the Japanese market. I have no solid argument to favor this idea over the previous one, but given the popularity of Pelikan in Japan, I tend to think of this idea as more plausible. Actually, several of this pens can be seen at stylophile meetings in Tokyo. And there is also a previous example of Pelikan pens made thinking of the Japanese market.

A Pelikan 400NN made by Merz & Krell in the 1970s.

The Pelikan model 400, now named as 400NN, was phased out in 1965, and Pelikan then sold the machinery to produce it. But the demand for that model in Japan made Pelikan to commission its production to the company Merz & Krell. This makes the 400NN M&K relatively common in Japan.

But all those arguments provided no evidence, and the mystery of the 1987 Pelikan M800 in brown tortoise shell remains.

Platinum 3776 (2002 model) – Diamine Graphite

Bruno Taut
Machida, March 7th, 2013
etiquetas: Japón, España, Pelikan, Merz and Krell

Justus Again

NOTE (February 2014): This text has been corrected after fellow blogger KMPN published data on the actual patent of the device to limit the flexibility of the nib.


Well… More advertisment.

Pilot’s last fountain pen is already in the market. Its name is Justus 95 and, as the name pointed out, a re-issue of the model Justus, that pen with an adjustable nib marketed initially in the 1980s.

Or is it? The new pen certainly sports an adjustable nib to fine-tune its flexibility. However, the design of the pen is completely different to the original. This was an original idea of Shigeki Chiba, the man behind the Super line of Pilot pens in the late 1950s and, more important, the Super Ultra 500.

The adjustable nib. This is size-10 nib, in the Pilot way of numbering them.

Chiba Shigeki filed the patent number D260658 in November of 1979, and it was approved two years later, in September of 1981. The key element of the patent was the decorative arrangement of the pen body, although in the drawings accompanying the application we can clearly see the adjustable nib. This feature was also patented by Pilot (invention by Yanagita Shichiki) in 1979. And there is an obvious common goal with the design by Wahl-Eversharp of 1933.

Drawings of the patent application by Chiba Shigeki in 1979.

Drawings of the US patent application by Yanagita Shichiki 1979.

Both Justus, side by side.

The nib in the original Justus, on the front on the picture, is a bit smaller than that of the modern release. The plates to limit the flexibility and the rings on the section to move them are apparently identical.

The modern version, the Justus 95, is, on the contrary, a flat top pen. It is made of black plastic with barleycorn decoration and golden trim. The nib is a size 10 (just like the Custom 742 and the Custom Heritage 912) of limited flexibility. In this regard, it is not different to the original nib—flexible but not excessively so; semi-flex some might say. It comes in three different points—F, FM, and M. The price in Japan is JPY 30000, plus tax. It does not seem to be a limited edition. The number refers to the fact that Pilot (as Namiki Manufacturing Company) was founded 95 years ago--in 1918.

Detail of the clip. The decorative pattern on the body is also visible.

My thanks to Mr. Niikura and Mr. Sunami.

Pilot Short – Pilot Blue

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, March 6th, 2013
etiquetas: Pilot, mercado, Wahl-Eversharp

Cool

This is the latest fountain pen marketed by Platinum in Japan. Its name is Platinum Cool, and it is a relatively inexpensive pen –JPY 3000, plus tax— to compete with the Pilot Prera (::1::, and ::2::) and Cocoon, and with the Sailor Lecoule.

The Platinum Cool, as shown on the online catalog of the company.

The Platinum Cool is nothing else than a demonstrator version of the model named Balance (ﾊﾞﾗﾝｽ, baransu, in Japanese). Therefore, there are two points available, F and M, for its stainless-steel nib. The pen comes in three different colors. And, needless to say, this is a cartridge-converter pen.

The Platinum Balance, as shown on the online catalog of the company.

The Platinum Cool, as displayed at a shop in Tokyo.

The F nib in a Platinum Cool.

Does this sound like advertisement (see, for instance, these links: ::1::, ::2::, ::3::)? Sometimes I think we, those who write some blog and who participate in pen fora, are naïve and ignorant advertisement tools in the hands of those big companies. Do they count on us for their marketing campaigns without us knowing it?

Pilot Murex – Pilot Blue

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, March 4th, 2013
etiquetas: Platinum, mercado, metabitácora

Popularidad

I wrote the following text at the begining of my activity writing these texts, and I published it in another page of this site. It was a way of expressing my initial puzzlement and a way to ask some questions aloud. Now, three years and thre hundred chronicles later, I have learned a thing or two, but the questions I posed remain relevant. That is why I am adding this text to the general section of these Pen Chronicles.

Escribí el siguiente texto al comienzo de mi actividad como autor de estos textos y lo publiqué en otra página de esta bitácora. Fue un modo de expresar mis sorpresas iniciales y de hacerme algunas preguntas en voz alta. Tras tres años y trescientas crónicas he llegado a algunas conclusiones, pero aquellas cuestiones son aun relevantes. Por esta razón las incorporo ahora a la sección general de estas Crónicas Estilográficas.


Jueves, 13 de mayo de 2010

Para Ningyo-chan.

Estas Crónicas llevan en marcha algo menos de un mes. Esta podría ser la décima entrada. Según a qué estadísticas prestemos atención, esta bitácora ha recibido más de mil visitas y apenas media docena ha dejado algún rastro.

¿Por qué escribimos estos textos? ¿Para quién? ¿Qué queremos decir? Tal vez pensé que sí tengo algo interesante que comunicar. O que es un modo de mantener el contacto con mis amigos estilófilos de aquí y allá, aunque tan sólo uno de ellos haya dejado un comentario en estas páginas.

A cambio, las estadísticas te muestran que hay gente a la que no conoces de nada que si no te lee, sí echa un vistazo. Sí, un uruguayo, alguien que vive en Aichi (Japón)… O en ciudades tan cercanas a mí como Ítaca (estado de Nueva York) o Glasgow. Y entonces te das cuenta de que es posible aumentar tu precaria popularidad cibernética.

Entrar en un foro y hacer una referencia a tu propia bitácora aumenta rápidamente el número de visitas. No actualizarla, lógicamente, lo hace caer en picado. Pero al mismo tiempo, una actualización demasiado rápida condena al olvido a muchas entradas anteriores.

He de suponer que esa pelea por ganar visitantes puede tener sentido para las bitácoras que generan beneficios económicos. Pero, ¿para los demás? ¿para aquellos que tan solo aspiramos a divertirnos con esto?

¿Para quién escribimos? ¿Para qué? Una vez encontramos las respuestas a esas preguntas todo es más sencillo, más relajado. Así que, si me disculpan, me retiro a meditar mis respuestas.

Mañana, más.

Sailor Profit 21 Junior – Sailor Brown

Bruno Taut
Inagi, 12 de mayo de 2010; Yokohama, 26 de febrero de 2013
labels: metabitácora

Out of Production (II)

When speaking about the problems to find proprietary cartridges to ink a Morison pocket pen, I ended the text with a negative conclusion—those pens, that Morison for instance, lose a lot of value in the second hand market, those pens have become almost useless.

The Morison pocket pen whose cartridges are almost impossible to find.

But there is also a positive conclusion—some brands still provide support for their old products. That is the case of the three big Japanese pen manufacturers with regard to the very popular idea of pocket pens. Current ink cartridges by Pilot, Platinum and Sailor can be used in those pocket pens from the 1960s and 1970s. In fact, cartridges are the only way to ink some of those pens, mostly Platinums and Sailors, as the old converters went out of production. Pilot is particularly exemplary on this—the CON-20 converter fits perfectly on those pocket pens and is a good alternative to cartridges. And Pilot, as well, still produces the CON-W to be used on those old pens (1960s) that needed the long gone double spare cartridges.

The original Pilot Myu-701 and its reissue, M90, can use the CON-20 converter.

The Pilot Capless from 1965 can still be used todays, in absence of double spare cartridges, by using the CON-W converter.

Some could say that the only difference between Morison and the big three is that Morison is out of business. And that is true, but true as well is the fact that some still-active companies did abandon some of their old products. Case in point, the beautiful Waterman C/F pen uses a specific type of cartridge and converter now out of production. And this makes us value a lot more those other companies.

The Waterman C/F, equipped with its converter, now almost as valuable as the pen itself.

For those unfortunate cases we have two options. The obvious is to look for those old cartridges and converters in second hand shops, flea markets and online auctions. The other is to adapt other ink deposits. That is what I did with my pocket Morison. Now it is inked with an adapted Pilot cartridge.

But the bottom line might be that self filling pens and eyedroppers do not have this problem.

Pilot Ladypearl – Diamine Graphite

Bruno Taut
Shinjuku, February 24th, 2013
etiquetas: Morison, Sailor, Platinum, Pilot, Waterman, soluciones técnicas, conversor

More Shops in Tokyo Area

I have just updated the list of shops –and the map with their locations— where to find fountain pens in Tokyo area. There are four new shops and one that went out of business.

That was the case of Asahi Shokai in Ameyoko market. Therefore, there are only fou shops in this street market offering fountain pens.

However, not far from Ameyoko, I have included Takeya General Discount Store. This is a big complex where you could find almost anything, and it also has a small stationery department. The selection of pens and inks is not big, although includes products by, at least, Lamy, Montblanc, Parker, Pelikan, Pilot, Platinum, Sailor. The prices are 30% and more below the MSRP.

8. Takeya (http://www.takeya.co.jp/english/index.html)
4-33-2 Taito
Taito, Tokyo
Phone: 03-3835-7777
Opening hours: Mo-Su: 10:00-20:30
Location map.


On the other side of the Yamanote line, we can find Tsutaya at Daikanyama T-Site. On one hand, Tsutaya is a big chain shop of bookstores, stationeries, and, more importantly, video and music rental. On the other, Daikanyama T-Site is a very pleasant shopping complex, designed by Klein Dytham Arquitecture, in the ward of Shibuya, just one station away from its well-known crossing, along the Tokyu-Toyoko line.

The Tsutaya branch at Daikanyama T-Site has a very beautiful section of upscale writing tools. Prices, though, are MSRP. Might this not be a place to buy, but it is indeed a place to visit and enjoy. The coffee is, unfortunately, subpar.

20. Tsutaya at Daikanyama T-Site (http://tsite.jp/daikanyama/store-service/tsutaya.html)
17-5 Sagurakucho
Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0033
Phone: 03-3770-2525
Opening hours: Mo-Su: 7:00-2:00 (yes, from 7 AM to 2 AM).
Location map.


About 25 kilometers to the West of Shinjuku we find the city of Tama, still in the province of Tokyo. By the station of Seisekisakuragaoka, Keio line, we have a big branch of the general store Keio-Atman. It belongs, not surprisingly, to the big Keio group, involved in transport, retail, real estate and other industries. At some of its shopping centers, the stationery section is good, and in a number of cases, they are Sailor Friendly Shops. This means that besides the regular pens included in the Sailor catalog, there are many other variations. Keio-Atman at Seisekisakuragaoka is one of those shops.

21. Keio-Atman at Seisekisakuragaoka (http://www.keio-atman.co.jp/seiseki/index.html)
1-11-1 Sekido (building A, 4F)
Tama, Tokyo 106-0011
Phone: 042-337-2555
Opening hours: Mo-Su: 10:00-20:00
Location map.


Along Odakyu line, already in Kawasaki, we reach to the station of Shin-Yurigaoka. B-Stock/Nakajima is a small chain of stationery shops located mostly on the West side of Tokyo and in the province of Kanagawa. Some of their branches are Sailor Friendly Shops, and such is the case of the B-Stock branch close to Shin-Yurigaoka station.

22. B-Stock at Shin-Yurigaoka (http://www.stationers.co.jp/shinyuri/index.htm)
4-1-1 Kamiasao (MyLord Building, 3F)
Asao, Kawasaki 215-0021
Phone: 044-959-5061
Opening hours: Mo-Su: 10:00-21-00
Location map.

Pilot Murex – Pilot Blue

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, February 23rd, 2013
labels: Tokyo, mercado, Sailor

Ultra (III)

At the time of speaking about the Super Ultra 500 (::1::, ::2::) I mentioned that despite its limited commercial success --it was in the market for just a couple of years-- the Chiba Shigeki’s design had a great impact among Japanese pen manufacturers. Many a pen company released its own version of the Ultra pen with innovative and original ways to mimic the elegant nib design of the Pilot pen.

A typical example is the following pen by Ryo. Not much is known about this company. It was located in Nakano, Tokyo, and belonged to a company named Otani.

The decoration on the section is limited to the upper part. This picture corresponds to the Ryo Ultra with gold-plated steel nib.

This Ryo pen is equipped with a 14 K gold nib, quite springy, that is partially hidden inside the section. And this is decorated with a gold-plated damascene in the shape of the Pilot Super Ultra inlaid nib. This decoration, however, is limited to the upper part of the section. The filling system of the pen is aerometric. Its overall quality is quite high. These are its dimensions:

Length closed: 136 mm
Length open: 123 mm
Length posted: 154 mm
Diameter: 11 mm
Weight (dry): 14.3 mm
Ink deposit: 0.8 ml.

Its original price was JPY 1000, in sharp contrast with the JPY 5000 of the Pilot original. Ryo also marketed another version with a gold plated steel nib.

On top, Ryo Ultra with steel nib. On bottom, with 14 K gold nib.

Pilot and Ryo, side to side. The differences are clear.

All in all, these are interesting pens. They show the existence of an active pen industry around 1960s struggling in a very competitive market.

Twsbi Diamond 530 – Sailor 土用 - Doyô

Bruno Taut
Machida, February 8th, 2013
etiquetas: Pilot, Japón, Ryo