Bungujoshi-haku is Japan’s largest stationery expo. With over 35 000 attendees, it is perhaps also the world’s busiest. Bungujoshi is not just about pens though, but also about notebooks, washi tape, and all kinds of stationery. This year, the organization behind this mega expo decided to do a smaller spinoff show focused on inks, riding on the current ink trend in Japan. They named it Inku-numa (lit. ink swamp), which is also what ink obsession is called here.

Gary is a fountain pen enthusiast from southern Japan with a knack for chemistry. A few years ago, he started experimenting with iron gall inks. This eventually led to a collaboration with Platinum, resulting in the Classic Ink series. He has also made inks for Pen Saloon and Wagner. A few months ago, Gary published a few observations and lessons using iron gall inks in fountain pens, on his Japanese blog.

The nib is fine! Don’t worry. In fact, it’s more than fine: It’s a Concord, by none less than grandmaster Yukio Nagahara (“Nagahara Junior”), who recently started his own business, The Nib Shaper. But let’s start from the beginning. It was a busy weekend at Bungubox in Omotesando: Nagahara did nib grinding, Eboya had a small pop-up shop around the corner, and Ken Takeda (who recently appeared on The World Unknown To Matsuko to talk about ink) did “ink fortune-telling”.