Yoseka Stationery is a stationery store in NY, founded in 2017 by a Taiwanese couple. Earlier this week, they sent one of their products, the Yoseka Notebook, for me to test. For the last few days, I’ve been carrying and writing in this notebook. That also included bringing it to a pen meet where it encountered some of the wettest nibs around, such as music flex nibs by nib maniac @tokyostationpens.

Fine Writing International (FWI) is a Taiwanese pen maker and stationery store. In addition to their own production line pens, FWI produces exotic, one-off urushi creations, and imports and sells foreign brands (see Inkantadora’s video tour). Until recently, FWI was relatively unheard of internationally. As late as May last year, when I got my first FWI pen, I had to order it directly from Taiwan, via email. Things have changed since then.

Pen Trading in Tokyo (ペントレ) is an annual pen show organized by “Pen Collectors of Japan”. It is arguably the place to find rare Japanese pens, and thus attended by some of the most dedicated collectors around. It is not just about vintage pens though. This year’s show was the 19th. It was a three-day event, with the first day focused on presentations, paraphernalia, and Kakuno hacking, and the two remaining days on gold-nibbed pens, new and old.