User:Endroit/Japanese pens and stationery
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Background
There is a belief that inexpensive Japanese pens are of unusually high quality. This is caused by the need for precise writing in Asian culture. The Japanese use kanji, or script derived from Chinese characters. A single Chinese character can have more than a dozen strokes, so the need for accuracy and preciseness is apparent. That's why the Japanese have so many thin pens, while in comparison the US has a lot of thick pens.
Pens
Uniball Signo Bit 0.18mm
One of the more incredible Japanese pen inventions is the Uniball Signo Bit 0.18mm gel pen. Currently it ranks as the world's thinnest pen. It's claim to fame is that it's tip is so thin it can write words on a grain of rice!
Pilot Hi-Tec-C
The Pilot Hi-Tec-C has been around for more than a decade, but it still ranks as one of the top-selling gel pens in Japan as well as the rest of Asia. It comes in four sizes: .25mm, .3mm, .4mm and .5mm and over two dozen colors per size.
The thinnest size, the 0.25mm pen can have some impressive results.
Manufacturers
- Pilot
- Ohto
- Mitsubishi
Erasers
Kokuyo Kadokeshi eraser
One of the most interesting erasers from Japan is the Kokuyo Kadokeshi eraser. It is a 28 corner eraser that won the 2002 Kokuyo design award. It utilizes a clever design to stack multiple cubes upon each other. The result is an eraser that is "never without a corner". You can keep erasing but you'll always have a clean edge to eraser with.
Novelty eraser
In Japan a wide variety of novelty erasers are sold. Most of them resemble food items, such as this Iwako sushi eraser set. Others include famous shrimp cracker chip bags, sake bottles and soda cans.