I have to thank you for the tour of Japan and hunt for elusive inks, especially for Sailor vase bottles, Matthew. It does bring back memories for me. I only visited Tokyo and Kyoto. But my memory was ignited from the narrative and pictures of your journey. I only visited one stationery store in Tokyo. A pity really. I wish I had visited the Pilot store. I understand it is now more like a museum, now. Now, I have to search for those bottles.
Thanks for following along! Yes, my visit to the Pilot store was not even worth adding to the Ginza video... just a long case of a pens. Nice pens, though.
You may not have found it yet, but I made a second trip to Japan in 2024, and there's a series of videos about that, too... still in progress. I'm in the process of making more inks as we speak 🙂
What a beautiful series, the presentation, the music and the inks of course. One popped up in my YT feed and I was immediately hooked, so I subscribed. Greetings from a Dutch pen person with a disability who can't really travel any more, so I really enjoy others' well filmed videos.
@@thewetpen Hey Matthew! Heck yeah - I always watch! 😁 Sometimes, I just have to pause & continue amongst a million interruptions 🙄 and realize "crap, I missed that part!" so re-watch like 5 times!😂 Your videos are always fun!
Lovely video indeed. Kobe has an artist craftsman vibe. I also get jet lag coming back from Japan. It’s funny but is related to something global as most people get it flying from Asia. Best wishes.
It was strange to me... I never had much issue with jetlag going to or coming back from Europe or Africa or India. Maybe a couple days of grogginess. But from Japan, it took me at least a full week before I could fall asleep at night instead of at 5 in the morning. Ugh.
@@thewetpen it sounds fake, but they say it involves the planet’s rotation or something. Maybe it’s also about how our body changes since one walks so much in Japan that we have deep sleeps there. Not sure but many people say the same thing. I try to budget some time off to adjust. Hang in there.
@@thewetpen it is strange. Not sure why either. Maybe we enjoy Japan so much and walk so much that our body adjusts to Japan (deep exhausted sleep after a god day of ink exploring and eating)… compared with living in a car culture that is less physically exhausting. But maybe India also must be tiring with weather and crowds… and lord ink quests and spicy foods 😃. I hope to go there someday.
@@AndrewWertheimer Yes, it is strange... I do a lot of walking whenever I travel, though my phone says that I walked about 200 miles while in Japan, which is pretty solid. But when I returned home from India, I was traveling west instead of east, and maybe that's what makes all the difference.
This was a wonder and incredible trek… on par with “Space. The final frontier…” type of journey… I just seem to hear this very preamble of an intro every time I’ve seen the notification for another greatly-anticipated upload from your channel, Matt… This entire production was a dream. The stuff pen enthusiasts’ fantasies and wishes from a genie’s lamp are made of. Thank you so much for sharing…
My pleasure! Thanks for taking the time to watch... I'm sure that you're like me and spend so much time on your own videos that you don't get as much time to watch other people's, so I appreciate it that you stopped in 🙂
Man I really like those Sage Blue and Koku colors. I wonder if there are any colors from other manufacturers that are similar to them that we can get stateside?
Next time you go to Kyoto, I recommend the Teramachi location of Tag over their "Main" location - it is much better. I am not sure but I think they had some exclusive inks.
I actually visited both... just didn't show the Teramachi one (which was much closer to my hotel, I later discovered). I didn't see any exclusive inks, but it was a wonderful shop.
@@thewetpen Well, last time i was there was like 4 years ago. So my info is out of date. I am not really into the exclusive inks so much, but my husband is in Japan right now and he is gonna pick me up some of the Fumizome inks - those are so cool - they are all made exclusively from natural materials - real indigo, flowers, cedar bark, purple lichen, etc.
@@mafurock33 Those Fumizome inks are really cool, and much less expensive in Japan than they are here, if I can even find them in stock. Those are on my list of non-exclusive inks that I'd pick up in Japan, if I had the luggage space 🙂
I stumbled onto your channel today and watched all of your Japan series.. I live in Japan and I am just getting started in fountain pens and ink. Could you tell me how you identify exclusive inks vs ordinary inks? Thank you so much and I subscribed! Also if at anytime you would like me to pick up something for you that you are unable to get, let me know!
Glad you enjoyed the videos, and welcome to the channel :-) There are a couple of ways to identify exclusive inks, but the main one is simply knowing what the standard, production line inks are. Once you've had a chance to visit a handful of ink shops or websites and you see the inks that they all have, picking out the unique ones is a lot easier. More reliably, though, ink shops typically have their exclusive inks marked as "Original" inks, usually in English. Most shops are proud of their "original" products (they'll often also have original pens, original stationery, etc), and they'll display them prominently or point them out quickly when asked. I just spent another three weeks in Japan myself, and I'll start publishing the new series of videos next week (I hope). I might take you up on your offer :-) There are three shops that I know of in Hokkaido that have exclusive inks: Ishida Bungu in Hakodate, Daimaru Fujii in Sapporo, and Satokamiten in Kushiro. I've only visited the one in Hakodate, and they do have the (increasingly rare) vase bottles in stock, as of last month. I'll be posting a map of all of the shops that I've found that have exclusive inks along with the video, but let me know if you every find any that aren't on the map already!
Yes, unless you buy them tax-free in Japan. The bottles that I opened in Japan sealed just fine and didn't leak. If you buy them tax-free, then they'll be sealed in a plastic bag with tamper-resistant tape, and you'll need to keep the ink in there until you pass through customs.
I went to the one in Osaka, which is also huge... and I only had a few hours in Kobe. My girlfriend didn't want me to spend all of my time in pen/stationery shops 🙂
Little sad to see this wonderful journey end! Thank you for sharing this with us!
Just means that I'll need to go back pretty soon 🙂 Thanks for following along with me!
Loved this series - thanks for sharing 🙏
I have to thank you for the tour of Japan and hunt for elusive inks, especially for Sailor vase bottles, Matthew.
It does bring back memories for me. I only visited Tokyo and Kyoto. But my memory was ignited from the narrative and pictures of your journey.
I only visited one stationery store in Tokyo. A pity really. I wish I had visited the Pilot store. I understand it is now more like a museum, now.
Now, I have to search for those bottles.
Thanks for following along! Yes, my visit to the Pilot store was not even worth adding to the Ginza video... just a long case of a pens. Nice pens, though.
Super enjoyable! I too am sad to see your inkredable journey end. I look forward to hearing about the pens. I'm also excited about your inks.
You may not have found it yet, but I made a second trip to Japan in 2024, and there's a series of videos about that, too... still in progress. I'm in the process of making more inks as we speak 🙂
What a beautiful series, the presentation, the music and the inks of course. One popped up in my YT feed and I was immediately hooked, so I subscribed. Greetings from a Dutch pen person with a disability who can't really travel any more, so I really enjoy others' well filmed videos.
Thanks Willem, I'm glad you're enjoying them :-) I've just started the new series from this year's trip, so I hope that you don't miss it.
I love every second of these series! Thanks for your hard work on explaining and putting these videos together.
Thanks! Glad you appreciate them 😊
ooooh I like that Kantarelli. thanks for these videos, they have been most enjoyable
My pleasure! Thanks for following along 🙂
Really enjoyed that last Sailor brown exclusive. Terrific shading.
I thought you might like that brown 🙂
@@thewetpen …now on to weaning you from “blue bayou” into browns, grey and chromoshading “Cormac McCarthy” like broody shades. 😆
Great to see some unfamilair to me inks that are unique .thanks 👌
Great video! Love the images! I now was to travel in the same footsteps
Thanks! I was so obsessed with inks that I took a lot fewer photos than I normally do when I travel, but I still got some good ones here and there.
thanks for uploading 🙏 had kind of a bad day and this made it better
Ahh... that's the kind of thing that makes these videos worth the time that it takes to put them together 🙂
These videos have been a feast for the eyes. Love all the inks you got. Thanks for sharing your trip with us!
Glad that you made it this far... haven't seen you in a while 🙂 Hopefully I'll come up with something interesting to follow it up with.
@@thewetpen Hey Matthew! Heck yeah - I always watch! 😁 Sometimes, I just have to pause & continue amongst a million interruptions 🙄 and realize "crap, I missed that part!" so re-watch like 5 times!😂 Your videos are always fun!
@@roxiesossa3210 Excellent. I wish everyone would watch my videos multiple times :-)
Wonderful
Thank you 🙂
Lovely video indeed. Kobe has an artist craftsman vibe. I also get jet lag coming back from Japan. It’s funny but is related to something global as most people get it flying from Asia. Best wishes.
It was strange to me... I never had much issue with jetlag going to or coming back from Europe or Africa or India. Maybe a couple days of grogginess. But from Japan, it took me at least a full week before I could fall asleep at night instead of at 5 in the morning. Ugh.
@@thewetpen it sounds fake, but they say it involves the planet’s rotation or something. Maybe it’s also about how our body changes since one walks so much in Japan that we have deep sleeps there. Not sure but many people say the same thing. I try to budget some time off to adjust. Hang in there.
@@thewetpen it is strange. Not sure why either. Maybe we enjoy Japan so much and walk so much that our body adjusts to Japan (deep exhausted sleep after a god day of ink exploring and eating)… compared with living in a car culture that is less physically exhausting. But maybe India also must be tiring with weather and crowds… and lord ink quests and spicy foods 😃. I hope to go there someday.
@@AndrewWertheimer Yes, it is strange... I do a lot of walking whenever I travel, though my phone says that I walked about 200 miles while in Japan, which is pretty solid. But when I returned home from India, I was traveling west instead of east, and maybe that's what makes all the difference.
Kantarelli was a great send off for this great series - thank you!
I thought it was a pretty interesting color, but I was more excited about finding it in the vase bottle :-) Thanks for watching!
I enjoy the ink exploration videos very much. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thanks you for watching! I've had fun making them 🙂
This was a wonder and incredible trek… on par with “Space. The final frontier…” type of journey… I just seem to hear this very preamble of an intro every time I’ve seen the notification for another greatly-anticipated upload from your channel, Matt… This entire production was a dream. The stuff pen enthusiasts’ fantasies and wishes from a genie’s lamp are made of. Thank you so much for sharing…
Thanks! I'm glad to hear that you've been enjoying the videos :-)
Such a nice video about finding exclusive inks in Japan! Japan is on my list of places to visit. Now, even more reasons to visit!
Thanks Beth! Japan is on my list of places to visit again 🙂
Another well made video I consumed this afternoon. Waiting for the Indian series. ❤
Hoping to see a selection and discussion of archival inks and paper.
Ahh, yes. I have a pretty decent collection... maybe I'll get to that soon.
The kantarelli is gorgeous! Thank you for a beautiful and fascinating series.
My pleasure! Thanks for taking the time to watch... I'm sure that you're like me and spend so much time on your own videos that you don't get as much time to watch other people's, so I appreciate it that you stopped in 🙂
Such a wonderful journey you took us on, thanks for sharing all your finds (think my favorite was that last leather brown, gorgeous shading).
That Sage Blue is awesome! Esp in the written example!
I really like the Sage Blue as well. I have it in a pen already!
Man I really like those Sage Blue and Koku colors. I wonder if there are any colors from other manufacturers that are similar to them that we can get stateside?
Next time you go to Kyoto, I recommend the Teramachi location of Tag over their "Main" location - it is much better. I am not sure but I think they had some exclusive inks.
I actually visited both... just didn't show the Teramachi one (which was much closer to my hotel, I later discovered). I didn't see any exclusive inks, but it was a wonderful shop.
@@thewetpen Well, last time i was there was like 4 years ago. So my info is out of date. I am not really into the exclusive inks so much, but my husband is in Japan right now and he is gonna pick me up some of the Fumizome inks - those are so cool - they are all made exclusively from natural materials - real indigo, flowers, cedar bark, purple lichen, etc.
@@mafurock33 Those Fumizome inks are really cool, and much less expensive in Japan than they are here, if I can even find them in stock. Those are on my list of non-exclusive inks that I'd pick up in Japan, if I had the luggage space 🙂
I stumbled onto your channel today and watched all of your Japan series.. I live in Japan and I am just getting started in fountain pens and ink. Could you tell me how you identify exclusive inks vs ordinary inks? Thank you so much and I subscribed! Also if at anytime you would like me to pick up something for you that you are unable to get, let me know!
Glad you enjoyed the videos, and welcome to the channel :-) There are a couple of ways to identify exclusive inks, but the main one is simply knowing what the standard, production line inks are. Once you've had a chance to visit a handful of ink shops or websites and you see the inks that they all have, picking out the unique ones is a lot easier. More reliably, though, ink shops typically have their exclusive inks marked as "Original" inks, usually in English. Most shops are proud of their "original" products (they'll often also have original pens, original stationery, etc), and they'll display them prominently or point them out quickly when asked.
I just spent another three weeks in Japan myself, and I'll start publishing the new series of videos next week (I hope). I might take you up on your offer :-) There are three shops that I know of in Hokkaido that have exclusive inks: Ishida Bungu in Hakodate, Daimaru Fujii in Sapporo, and Satokamiten in Kushiro. I've only visited the one in Hakodate, and they do have the (increasingly rare) vase bottles in stock, as of last month. I'll be posting a map of all of the shops that I've found that have exclusive inks along with the video, but let me know if you every find any that aren't on the map already!
You are more into the ink side, than the fountain pen side?
Yes... I'm not really much of a fountain pen collector, but I do love bottles of ink.
Is it ok to open my ink bottles before flying ?
Yes, unless you buy them tax-free in Japan. The bottles that I opened in Japan sealed just fine and didn't leak. If you buy them tax-free, then they'll be sealed in a plastic bag with tamper-resistant tape, and you'll need to keep the ink in there until you pass through customs.
@@thewetpen thank you!!
How do you go to Kobe and not go to Nagasawa?
I went to the one in Osaka, which is also huge... and I only had a few hours in Kobe. My girlfriend didn't want me to spend all of my time in pen/stationery shops 🙂
@@thewetpen Ah, girlfriends!!! Maybe next time. Nagasawa originated in Kobe.
Loved these videos, gave me even more ideas for my trip in November