This was my very first time attending a pen show. I did not actually planned to attend this event. But somehow, my travel dates to Japan in autumn of 2024 coincided with the show. Realising this, I gladly took the opportunity to include the show into my travel itinerary and through social media, managed to get in touch with a kind gentleman based in Tokyo who helped me with my event ticket booking.
Thus, on 3 November 2024, I attended my very first pen show, the Tokyo International Pen Show (a.k.a. TIPS).
I woke up early on the Sunday morning of 3 November 2024. My Japanese friend, a fellow fountain pen user, arrived at my hotel lobby and together, we walked to the Monorail Station to travel to the pen show.
Arriving at the venue's reception, we showed the QR codes for our tickets and were assigned wristbands before being led to join the queue based on our ticket numbers which also indicated our schedule arrival time. As with all things in Japan, everything proceeded like clockwork, efficient and speedy.
Soon, the clock hit 9.30am and we were ushered into the event hall in groups. No pushing, no showings, everybody simply observed instructions provided by the organisers. Nice!
The pen show was spread over two floors. I decided to start from the upper floor. Entering the event hall, tables were laid out neatly in rows with merchandise displayed. I took my time to browse through the event hall, passing each table and mentally taking notes on what caught my eyes so that I may return for a closer examination of the pens and stationery. Completing my sweep of the upper event hall, i proceeded to the lower floor and continued my reconnaissance of what was on offer.
I must admit that after my high-level sweeps of both event halls, I was a little disappointed. There was nothing that really screened "buy me now". Probably because this was already the third day of the event and many overseas vendors had already sold the more sought after items on the first two days of the show.
Nevertheless, I returned to the top floor of the show for my second and more detailed walkthrough. There was a nib smith at work. Unfortunately, in my haste to depart the hotel in the morning, I had forgotten to bring along my pen much that contained my pens. I had originally intended to look for a nib smith to rework one of my Pelikan M600 pens but that was no longer possible.
Unlike my first walkthrough of the event hall earlier, I bought some small stationery items. I had earlier set my eyes on a Sailor KOP Pro Gear but gave up the idea after I realised that they do not offer tax free purchases for tourists. I figured I will be better off buying from Maruzen or Itoya with the 10% tax free service.
At the Sailor booth, they had two plastic pots of Sailor ink cartridges. The challenge was the chance for two scoops at 500 yen. The rule was simple. One had to use the supplied scoop. Many people were having a go at the challenge and it looked really fun. I asked my friend to take the chance on my behalf as he have better hand control compared to me. My friend's two scoops netted a huge collection of ink cartridges, 28 in total. A good catch because I would have had to pay more to buy the same amount of ink cartridges. The ink cartridges were from a mixture of colours from the Sailor Shikiori ink series.
Pen-wsie, I was deciding whether to purchase a used Pelikan M600 in White with Purple Stripes. But eventually, I decided against it. I figured that the price was a bit on the high side for a used pen and I could not test the nib. Visual examinations of the nib at the point of purchase was the only option. Of course, if I had bargained, I may be offered a lower price for the pen. But I am not one who bargains. So, it ended up as a no-buy for me.
Eventually, I did purchase a wooden barrel pen from a bespoke wood turner, Hirai Wood Turner. The pen comes with a 14K Bock Size 6 nib in Medium. I also bought another wooden barrel pen from the booth of Pen Gallery from Malaysia. This pen is from the Xzotic series that is made in Malaysia. It is fitted with a stainless steel Jowo Size 6 nib in Medium. Both pens use standard Schmidt converters. Thus, it will be easy for me to replace the ink converters should the need arises in future.
Besides the two wooden barrel pens, I also bought a Pilot Lightive Tokyo Pen Show Exclusive. A 2023 TIPS T-shirt at only 1000 yen was too good an offer to miss and I bought one for myself.
I also bought several pen cases and pouches from the Kyoku Haku booth. They are a manufacturer of pen cases and pouches based in Taiwan. Prior to my visit to the Tokyo Pen Show, I already owned two of their pen cases which I had previously bought from an online retailer more than a year ago. I really like the quality and ergonomics of their products. This was why I decided to go all out and purchase more of their products at the pen show.
My friend and I left the pen show at about 12pm plus, we had spent almost 3 hours at the event. If we had not need to rush for a lunch appointment, we could have stayed longer.
That sums up my first experience attending a pen show. It was really fun and an eye opener for me. I got to see many pens in-person for the first time, having previously only been able to view them digitally on my computer screen. I look forward to attending my next pen show soon. 🖋🐧
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