A Stationery Lover’s Guide to Tokyo

Welcome to Documented! Thanks for being here.

In this post, I’m playing stationery tour guide and sharing how my Tokyo trip went, specifically the stationery shopping part.

If you’re planning a trip to Tokyo and love stationery, fountain pens, and journaling, keep reading to find out where to go and what to look out for.

During my Tokyo trip last fall, I had a mission. After all, what’s a visit to the stationery mecca of the world without exploring its stationery shops?

While I’ve already been to some of the more well-known spots, such as Loft and Itoya, which I’ll also cover in this post, I also made sure to seek out independent shops that focus not only on stationery, but also on fountain pens and other writing tools.

Prepare for some eye candy and lots of note-taking if you’re headed to Tokyo this year. Here are all the shops I visited, what I recommend looking out for in each store, and the best route to get there.

• Location/s: Airport (Narita T1), Station (Tokyo Station), Nakameguro (flagship)

• Nearest station/s:

  • Airport: I recommend flying into Narita if possible (it’s in the Shops area of the airport)

  • Station: the store is in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo Station, easy to miss, but also, easily spotted in the crowd (just look for a building map or ask around, you got this!)

  • Nakameguro: Nakameguro (if you’re in the neighborhood, I recommend taking a side trip to Onibus coffee and Starbucks Reserve as well)

• What they’re known for: home of the TRAVELER’s notebook brand, from covers, to inserts (watch out for the limited edition ones in every branch), to accompanying tools and accessories for you to have a nice trip1!

A trip to Tokyo is never complete without visiting to at least one TRAVELER’S FACTORY store. Every time I step into one of their stores, I feel a sense of excitement and exhilaration looking at all my favorite things housed in one space. I’m a biased TN girly from day one, so it feels like a true pilgrimage every time I’m in the store (this time around, though, someone spotted me inside lol).

My personal favorite is the Nakameguro one (I do love this neighborhood, after all), although the relatively new Kyoto branch definitely hits the spot (if you find yourself in that part of Japan, you know what to do).

Apart from limited edition items, don’t miss a chance to have your TN inserts stamped in store (a ritual at this point for all TN users). I usually purchase an insert and stamp away2—they’ve just released their partner shop inserts which are great to document your visit to every partner shop and TF store.

• Nearest station: Nihombashi

• What they’re known for: fountain pens, fine writing tools, an assortment of planners and notebooks

Maruzen is a stationery and book shop chain in Japan, and I chose the Nihonbashi branch thanks to this guide, as it’s the original location. Head to the basement and you’ll find a huge selection of planners, notebooks, fountain pens (on display and available to try), and ink that I’ve only seen for the first time.

I had the best experience purchasing my Pilot Custom 74 here, with the staff being extremely helpful and generous with suggestions. It was relatively calm and there were not a lot of people, which is my favorite way of buying fountain pens because I can have a clear mind and think properly on my choices—these are big decisions, okay!).

I’ve also heard great things about Maruzen’s Oazo store (close to Tokyo Station3), as it’s where you’ll find this gorgeous limited edition Pilot Custom 742 (that my best friend owns and I got to see it, truly a beaut). But I decided to head to the OG and didn’t regret it.

• Nearest station: Ginza

• What they’re known for: DIY fountain pens, limited edition fountain pens, inks, and collaboration items

As the flagship store of Sailor, you simply cannot miss this small store just around the corner of the busy shopping streets in Ginza. I knew I wanted to have a DIY pen made, but what I didn’t know was how long it took me to decide on every single color and material that would go into my pen (oops!).

Apart from the custom fountain pen service (they do it for you on-site and took around five minutes), they carry a wide range of Sailor inks—mostly limited edition ones. They also have a very limited edition color that is only available when it rains (a blue one, of course), so if you’re lucky, you just might be able to get it on a rainy day!

I recommend having a look at their website before going, so you can figure out easily which ones are on your shopping list.

• Nearest station: Ginza (these next ones are all in Ginza, and can recommend visiting in one day)

• What they’re known for: minimalist Japanese designed products and tools

Of course, I was already in MUJI to get myself a big black jacket (for the Berlin winter)—might as well pop by the stationery floor, right?

I visited the flagship branch in Ginza as the space was wide enough to browse, but not in an overwhelming way. I used MUJI pens a lot back in the day, but this time, I was more focused on looking at some of the organizational systems, and took home a couple of nifty additions for my workspace.

Curious to see what I picked up from Japan? Check out my “everything I got from Japan” video, exclusive to my journal club members on Patreon 🇯🇵 it’s the best way to support my creative journey online.

• Nearest station: Ginza

• What they’re known for: Moomin items

For all my fellow Moomin lovers—do not, I repeat, do not miss this shop in Ginza. From stickers, to plushies, notebooks (the Hobonichi collection is here as well) to homeware, they have everything here. Some I have definitely seen in the London Moomin shop, but there’s a wider range of products here in particular.

No idea how these Finnish cuties got so famous around Japan (in a similar vein as to Snoopy and Miffy), but I’m here for it. I bought some ennui themed Moomin stickers (yes, you read that right) to get me by this winter4.

Close by at another mall is Karel Capek, one of my favorite tea brands (with the cutest illustrations on the packaging by the owner herself). Drop by and don’t regret it.

• Nearest station: Ginza

• What they’re known for: 12 floors of stationery heaven

Entering Itoya feels like you can never leave. Every floor feels like an exhibition, and the display is fantastic—it feels like a museum. From floors filled with every type of paper, to rows and rows of washi tape at a corner by the cashier, you won’t run out of things to see (and maybe buy? hah!) in this building.

If it’s your first time here, I highly recommend taking your time and going through each floor. It was my second time here, so I zoned in on floors 2-5. My favorite part was getting to see all the ink brands and pens I only see online. The tactile experience is incomparable.

I got overwhelmed at one point and stood outside the toilet room at the corner of selected floors. I needed to stare in space a bit before looking at more things, lol.

• Nearest station: Ginza (alternative: Shibuya)

• What they’re known for: a wide selection of popular stationery from Japanese brands

On the fifth floor of Loft Ginza, you’ll find yourself (at least I did) browsing for hours and hours, looking at lots of stationery, asking yourself if you really need it (but it’s only $2 for a roll of washi tape!), finding all the things on my list (mom’s pen refills included), heading to the tax free counter, and taking the escalator down, hoping to never have to come back again (my wallet, it seems, is not happy).

Kidding aside, if I had one store to introduce you into the world of Japanese stationery, Loft would be that store. The entire building is more of a general store, and of course there’s a floor dedicated to stationery. It’s not massive, but it is massive enough to be able to peruse around endless shelves of paper, pens, and everything stationery you can think of.

A selection of Hobonichi products are also available at Loft, as well as TRAVELER’s notebook ones (I had to get a friend’s cover at Loft because it was sold out on all the TF shops). Take your sweet time at this shop and thank me later.

• Nearest station: Jimbocho

• What they’re known for: bespoke fountain pens, special collaborations, store-exclusive inks

I’ve only ever heard of BUNGUBOX through the pen shows I frequented over the years, and wound up getting a Mikkabi Mikan fountain pen a few years ago. This time around, though, by some amount of luck, I chanced upon the new Van Gogh collection (which came out a week before my trip!) and was able to purchase the Sunflower of Arles pen in person (it’s beautiful).

Apart from that, I was able to look through ink samples and chat with the owner, Kaoru, who kindly showed me around the store.

The store is small (they also have an online shop and ships worldwide), but there are lots to see—and this area of Tokyo is quiet, but worth a trip to for its cafes and other novelty shops.

• Nearest station: Jimbocho

• What they’re known for: Hobonichi’s flagship store

It’s no surprise that Hobonichi is having a moment these past couple of years—with everyone sporting a Weeks and/or a Cousin as part of their Techo Kaigi (no, I will still not call it ecosystem).

A few meters across Glitch, the coffee shop famous for its long lines (and iirc the coffee was good), is Hobonichi’s flagship store, aka the place to do some notebook shopping. Admittedly, I found the store to be a bit dim and hard to browse through, but patience is key here. You’ll find most of the limited edition collaborations in store here, as well as covers from previous collections that you might have missed (unfortunately, my infamous Camp cover is not part of that).

I went twice, and unexpectedly walked away with a mustard Tragen cover on my last day. No regrets!

• Nearest station: Jimbocho

• What they’re known for: art supplies, niche stationery, postcards and greeting cards

Established in 1887, Bumpodo was the first specialty art store in Japan to sell and manufacture oil-based paints5. Inside, you’ll find a generous selection of art supplies (especially on the basement), as well as a well-curated section of stationery I was only able to find here.

Once I entered the store, I immediately felt the warmth—I don’t really know how to explain it—but it’s something very different from going to a department store. Maybe it’s how rustic the displays looked, or how retro it felt being in such an old building. I chanced upon Showa era advertisements as stickers, Fueki-themed items (rare to find nowadays), and beautifully designed postcards that I ended up mailing to friends before flying out.

I kept thinking if I had been here, and after walking through the store and jogging my memory, it turns out my cousin had taken me here in 2017, after we walked around Book Town and had coffee at Glitch (yes, it’s still in the same area).

The tour ends here! I hope you enjoyed tagging along and getting to know some of these shops. I definitely didn’t cover everything6 with my limited time, but by the end of the trip, I realized I’d chosen the most efficient route by focusing on areas with a high concentration of shops I wanted to visit (i.e. Ginza and Jimbocho).

If you’ve been to Tokyo before, where are your go-to stationery shops? Or if you’re headed there for the first time ever, what’s one place you’re sure not to miss? I’d love to know!

Leave a comment

I’d love to take you around some more—here’s the video featuring all the stores I mentioned in this post. Happy (virtual) shopping!

Everyone’s talking about bringing back 2016, and here’s my very stationery coded contribution. Happy ten years!

Share