Designed by a precision engineering company in rural Japan, Drillog is a stainless steel dip pen with glass nib-like ink channels that hold plenty of ink. While currently only sold in Japan, Drillog will soon be available overseas via a Kickstarter campaign.

Fenestro is Fine Writing International’s latest model: An acrylic, eyedropper-friendly cartridge-converter pen with an ink window and spring-loaded cap.

Eureka Dodecagon aka-tamenuri is a handmade ebonite pen with urushi lacquer, custom ebonite feed, and Argentium silver nib, all created by a one-man pen maker in South Korea.

PenBBS 500 is a new release from popular Chinese pen maker PenBBS, with an all-new filling system that combines elements from TWSBI’s Go and Conid’s bulk fillers.

Sailor has its Pro Gears, Pilot has Custom 91 and 912, and now PenBBS has model 352: Flat-top cartridge-converter pens with stylish clips. Modern-looking complements to classic, cigar-shaped models in their respective product lineups. Model 352 is one of PenBBS’s two new releases in June (the other one being vac filler 268), and comes in a number of different acrylics and with several nib options. The one I got is called Galaxy, and has PenBBS’s new extra-fine or REF nib.

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.

Eboya is a Tokyo-based pen maker that has been around since 2009. Their specialty is pens made of ebonite, polished on traditional rokuro lathes. Eboya’s parent company is Nikko Ebonite, the only producer of ebonite in Japan. Eboya has seven pen fountain pen models, including the Onoto-inspired Kyouka, the bamboo-like Ricchiku, and the torpedo-shaped Houga. Each model is available in several types of marbled ebonite, in small, medium, and large sizes, with an appropriately-sized 14K Bock nib in F, FM, M, or B.

Storied stationery retailer and bookstore Maruzen is celebrating their 150th anniversary this year. To commemorate this occasion, Maruzen produced three limited edition pens: A Sailor KOP in micarta (Voyage), a yellow Pilot based on Custom 912 (Lemon), and the subject of this post: Athena the Pen. The name, Athena, may be familiar to fountain pen enthusiasts. Maruzen has a popular series of inks carrying this label, including the sought-after Eternal Blue, and even more exotic ones sold only once a year, at their annual pen fair.

Long37, the mastermind behind Chinese pen maker PenBBS and owner of its namesake discussion forum, has been on a roll lately. Last autumn, PenBBS released the double-ended 469 and 456 vacuum filler in rapid succession, followed by the somewhat controversial 355 “bulkfiller” just before year-end. This year has already seen two new models: The 471 pocket pen, and the subject of this post: Model 380. In late December, PenBBS member Beini posted a teaser image on Instagram.

One of the joys of attending pen shows is discovering new products. At Wagner’s year-end event, I picked up a type of paper called Null Refill. It wasn’t the first time this paper was sold at a pen show I attended, but for some reason, I had missed it until now. Null Refill is based on a synthetic paper called Yupo, known for its water resistance. Because of this property, it is commonly used for e.

My first PenBBS pen was a white 309 piston filler. I liked the nib a lot, a #6 size fine steel nib slightly bent upward, almost like a waverly nib. However, the rest of the pen wasn’t quite to my liking: Too light and with a somewhat cheap overall feeling, especially the piston mechanism. So I ended up selling it after a while. After watching chrisrap52 repeatedly singing praise of PenBBS, I was keen on giving the brand another try, but I wanted a pen with a bit of heft, as I find it more comfortable to write that way.

Last year, Leo of Inquisitive Quill fame posted on Reddit about a new pen called Bronze Age, from Taiwanese pen maker Fine Writing International. I was taken aback by the beauty of this pen but quickly gave up trying to purchase one for myself, as the only method of payment at the time required a bank account in Taiwan. A few weeks ago, this pen started showing up on my Instagram feed for unknown reasons, which rekindled my interest.