The Pen Addict 739/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	739
Title:	Accidental Stationery
Release Date:	October 21st, 2026
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 739
Audio File:	Audio Episode 739
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 739
Length:	5555 min <br />0.917 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 739. Today's show is brought to you by Squarespace. My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad. Hello Myke Hurley, how are you? I'm very good, I'm very good. How are you?

Brad Dowdy: I am good. I am a little bit sideways, a little bit running around like a madman. Okay. You know, getting ready for a trip to Japan, which we're going to talk about today.

Myke Hurley: Yep.

Brad Dowdy: And then just getting everything else done, but you know, pretty good. All things considered, pretty darn good. You know, watching the weather, there's a serious typhoon out off the coast of Asia, so I think we're going to be fine, but you never know until you get there. Well. So we'll dig into all things Japan later this episode.

Myke Hurley: We got some things to talk about first?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. You want to just jump right into it?

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Sailor Pro Gear

Brad Dowdy: I'm actually glad I got this off my chest before. I went on my trip, the Sailor Pro Gear regular fountain pen. So this is the Steel Nib Sailor Pro Gear that I mentioned a few weeks ago that I bought at the same time I bought a Leonardo Memento Zero. And I did that on purpose. Because, like, the backstory is these are both $200-ish steel nib fountain pens. And I just have a lot of thoughts on this pen, and I couldn't really... I still don't know that I got them all out on the page. Yeah. I think it's hard. Because I was kind of angsty about this pen. If you read this review, you can tell. You are. I have, and you are. So the idea rolling around in my head is, like, I'm pretty upset at the price point of this pen, given all kinds of things. And that doesn't mean, like, steel nibs are bad. As a matter of fact, I might prefer steel nibs in a lot of situations. I'm a steel nib stan. I will stand up for all my steel nibs. But what Sailor's done here, I felt like was just kind of like a throwaway decision to backfill a price point. And therefore, this pen did not feel special to me. It did not feel worth it to me, which worth it, we'll discuss, right? That's a very personal thing, right? So if someone emails me and says, is this pen worth it? Like, you can't answer that question, right? Because we each value different things. But I've never felt like I've spent my money as poorly as I did with this pen, which rarely happens, right? I usually make decisions, you know, with a lot of information. And, you know, if you're going to spend $200, which is a lot of money, you want to make sure you're getting something you're going to enjoy. And I bought this as a test to see maybe I'm missing something. Like, I did have a little, I'll admit to having, like, some preconceived notions that I wasn't going to like this pen. And it turns out I was right in that it's about $100 or maybe $125 more than it should be based on Sailor's history of steel nib pens, based on what they currently have on the market, based on what their main competition, which is Pilot and Platinum do, and in the market. And it just misses the mark.

Brad Dowdy: And I'm trying to decide if this is just a temporary blip for Sailor, right? Is it a panic move? Everything in gold got sent up to, like, $400. Like, the same pen with a gold nib would be $400 and something, right? $450. And then they had nothing except the Tuzu, which is a pen, a Sailor pen that I love, for, like, $50, right? And there was nothing in between, like, $50 and $400.

Brad Dowdy: So they came up with the Casual L lineup. And this particular one I got was a limited edition of that. So I could have bought a Sailor steel nib pen for $140. That's the Casual, where the Casual L steel nibs Sailor pens start. But they're also just your standard 1911 barrels, your standard Pro Gear barrels. It's the same shapes that we all know and love, the same shapes that we all have gold nib models in. And they just have these steel nibs in them. And then this one, particular one I have, is called the Lucky Charm, which is based off a very popular colorway they did years ago. And it's a North American exclusive, and it's $200. So you're paying an extra $60 for the privilege of the fancy color.

Myke Hurley: So this would normally be a $140-ish, $150-ish pen? And it would come in, like, a regular standard set of colors. The thing here is just they made a special edition, so yours is this. Yes, yeah. Is this pen, I mean, I know we're getting to it, but, like, is this pen more worth it at the standard price? No, no.

Brad Dowdy: So I haven't... It doesn't matter. The price doesn't matter. Yeah, the price doesn't matter. I mentioned in the article that I could have just gone that route. So I said I probably should have begun with one of the less expensive models, meaning the $140, like, stock model. But I'm not sure my feelings would have changed. Okay.

Myke Hurley: That's how I wrote it. I wasn't clear just from reading it. I should have clearly think that it's the same pen. I thought you just meant, like, a different sailor pen with a steel nib. But I didn't mean it's in the... What is a funny name to me, the regular, which is very funny to me. Yeah, I hate that name. Like, I purposely used it a lot because it drives me crazy. So these... It has the same problem that I try to tackle a lot, but it's, like, ingrained in my mind of calling, like, the base iPad the low-end iPad. Sure. Right? So we try to... I try to call it the base model, right? Like, it's your starting model. It is not the cheap model, right? Right, right. Like, because it doesn't sound good for people that have those products when they're excellent products. But, I mean, this isn't an excellent product. But calling it the regular... It's just, like, a weird... It's just a weird name.

Brad Dowdy: So check out the name of the $140 model. One of them is called the Sailor 1911 Casual L Basis Fountain Pen. Casual. So they... Casual L is, like... Casual L is what they're calling, like, this whole steel nib lineup. And then they just threw in a basis in there for... Which just doesn't make any sense. I'm not sure what reason. Like, it's... Just like regular, it's a completely extraneous word. But, like, the 1911 is exactly a 1911 L barrel with a steel nib, right? So they've just taken all these classic Sailor barrels that we know and love, thrown steel nibs in them, and, like, backfilled these price points. And I'm just looking at this $200 one I bought. And it's, like... It is not... Maybe fractionally stylishly better than the Pilot Pereira, which is, like, $60, $65. And that's a very... I think the Pilot Pereira is an expensive pen for what it is. And I did a couple little comparisons. And it's, like... It's, like, a couple of barrel trim options better and maybe slightly chunkier. It's still not a big pen, like, compared to the Pereira. But the Pereira is, like, $140 less than this pen. And it just... It blows my mind. It's, like, I don't know that this is going to continue to be a thing. My end game here is to see what happens, like, in the next five years. Because this is an innovation zone. Yes. And I want to see if they have the money to actually do that.

Myke Hurley: This is what we've been talking about, right? Since this whole thing started kicking off. Which is, like, the general idea that Sailor has here is not a bad one, right? Make a pen with the fit and finish of the gold nib pens, right? Like, the barrel material, the cap, the furniture. It all looks really good. Put a steel nib in it. The problem is, you've actually got to make the steel nib good. Like, you have to do something to make it good. Like, the steel nib in this pen looks cheap. It does.

Brad Dowdy: Right? They did a really bad job with the etching on this. Like, in the... The Rialos... The marketing photos, they look good in person. You can't even see the etching.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Like, is it the yellow pen? That's a Prera, right? You've got a Prera. Yeah. The Prera's nib looks more premium than the Pro Gear regular's nib in your image. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It looks like they just cut it out of steel and sent it on its way. Like, there isn't... Like, any work was put in. But then also, like, so one, make it look and feel good. Make it perform well. But then, do something that you haven't done before. Like, I don't know what that is, but R&D this situation. Right. Yeah. It's rough.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's not great. It's something... I would love to see... They did a really... I gave Sailor so much credit for the Tuzu because it was different. Yeah. Right? And it was really good. The nib on the Tuzu is way better than these nibs. That doesn't make sense. The Tuzu nibs are thicker, right? To your point about the nibs on these Casual L and, you know, Pro Gear regular. It's just like a stamped out of a sheet, which a lot of these are. Yeah. These just feel thin. Yeah. And the Tuzu nib feels thick. Yeah.

Sailor Tuzu

Myke Hurley: And it's got, like, the nice logo on it. And it's like... It looks like it's kind of, like, formed and shaped in an interesting way. Right? That it catches the light when you use it. But I don't understand how the Sailor Tuzu at $44 is doing a better job than the regular at $200 and whatever. Or even $140. Like, it's... Yeah. They've really messed up here, I think. I think it's just a panic move, right?

Brad Dowdy: They had to have something. Yeah. Because it was a gap. So, like, I'm not going to go that hard at them. I'll go hard at this product because I don't think it's worth the money. But I want... There is an opportunity here that they have. And I want to see if they can deliver on that. Yeah. Because if they do, like, it's just one of those things. Would you be happier selling, you know, three $80 to $100 pens or one $200 pen? I don't know what Sailor wants. But, like, this $200 pen is not it. Like, I just really, really can't justify, like, almost any of this product at the $200 price point. I don't know that I could justify it at $140. Yeah. Right? It's pretty... I'm really struggling with this as a product on the market at this price point, you know? There's pens that I feel are priced high. There's pens that are priced low all the time. Like, this one just seems, like, ridiculous. I haven't felt this way about a pen in a long time. It just seems wrong to me. I feel relieved getting that review up. It was literally one of those situations where I would lay in bed at night and roll this around in my head.

Myke Hurley: Huh.

Brad Dowdy: For, like, the whole week leading up to writing this article, trying to figure out how I'm going to explain what I'm feeling about this pen.

Myke Hurley: I think you did.

Brad Dowdy: Maybe.

Myke Hurley: Maybe I did. I think you did. I mean, I understood it when I read the article today. I felt okay.

Brad Dowdy: I could have gone harder, but that's not worth it.

Myke Hurley: You could have gone harder. You could have gone easier on them. I think you chose the right route. Yeah. They're making... Sailor's making great products right now. This is not one of them, right? Yeah. So it's like, they're not incapable. They're just not getting it right here. And they need to focus on it. I think it's a very fair assessment. Because it's too expensive.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's too expensive. What I really hope is that they're grasping the... They have a huge opportunity in front of them right now. Behind the scenes. Yeah. Yeah. To come up with something interesting between $50 and $200. And this isn't it. So I think this is just a, like I said before, just like a backfill type of situation. Like a panic move. So. Yep. All right. Moving on. Not a panic move, but it did catch me off guard. It just came out yesterday. Blackwing's coming out with a planner. Totally makes sense, right? They're, you know, a stationary company, not just a pencil company, right? They came out with a pen earlier this year. You know, even, you know, though people think they're a pencil company. Their notebooks historically have been very, very good. I haven't tried one in a while, but they always get really good reviews. And they came out with a planner. And it's 180 page A5 planner. You know, it's basically a two page per week layout, which is a layout that I like. There's just one thing. And this is just me being pedantic. And just, this is a very personal design decision. For me, that I dislike about this, the gray boxes for days and dates drives me berserk. I don't know why. That's just a personal thing. So this is considered an undated planner, right? So you can buy it anytime and just start, which is great. And it gives you enough room to run for 12 months. So you pick it up and you write your date in the box. I really hate that book because it reminds me of like old business planner days. It's just like, it's just like this aesthetic that I can't get behind. It doesn't mean it's not, it's good or bad. It's probably, I think a lot of people will probably enjoy this. And especially, I think the price is fair. $40, it looks really nice. The little gray boxes drive me crazy. Is that just me? I don't like the way it's a product looks, if I'm being honest. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's something about it. I don't know. It's not, I mean, that's not fair. We haven't used it and things like that. But I do, I wouldn't use this because of how it's laid out.

Myke Hurley: But a lot of these things are looks based and I'm not confident in the looks. Like I don't even really like the outside. Like the, there's like a few different materials going on here.

Blackwing Planners

Brad Dowdy: Like it's, it's not good for me. Yeah, because they fit in a pencil loop on the spine. Which is clever.

Myke Hurley: It's very clever. It's on brand, right? Like I get it, but I don't like the way it looks though, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. So anyway, I thought I would bring this up because there are a lot of Blackwing fans. I think, I think, God, I need a two week vacation. I'm having too many opinions, Myke. And people are going to yell at me. I was like, they just tried too hard, right? They over-designed this product. Even though it's a simple product, it's to me, like again, I think this is actually probably going to do well for them. I have more problems with the pen than I do this planner. But this is just a very old take that I've had from using calendars when I was in, you know, a day job. And, you know, it's just not an aesthetic that works for me. So I think it'll do well. It's the right product at the right price point for their customer base. And I think it'll do perfectly well. Let me ask you a related question.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Could you commit to using a planner for one year with only a pencil?

Brad Dowdy: Because that's what I'm thinking about when I'm thinking about this Blackwing planner, even though it's obviously going to work fine for pens. And they sell a pen and they have lots of pen, you know, imagery in here.

Myke Hurley: I could imagine if it was like quite purposed. Like I could do it. I think I could do it. I don't think I would enjoy myself as much, but I think I could do it. You know? Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I don't think I could do it. I think I would just lose it. It's because it does get messy a little bit.

Myke Hurley: It's actually very possible I'd be more likely to give up than I would otherwise.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Right? Yeah. Yeah. That was just a funny thought that I had thinking about like Blackwings as a product. It's like, does anyone, I'd be interested, does anyone use a planner only with pencil? And I'm not talking about like planning your week, right? I'm talking about do you go the full year, the 365 with just a pencil in your planner? And there's probably people that do.

Myke Hurley: I'm sure they do. I'm sure they do.

Brad Dowdy: That's just something that made me curious when I was thinking about this product. So anyway, that was my thoughts on that. All right, Myke. Yeah. We got an email. Yeah. It's kind of an ass TPA, but I thought it was kind of a bigger question than that.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Do you want me to read it? I want you to read it. And, uh...

Myke Hurley: Oh, who's it from?

Brad Dowdy: Did I take out the name? Yeah. I literally just saw that. Let me pull it up. You'll find it. I'll have that here.

Vintage Pens

Myke Hurley: I'll start reading it. And then we can... Brandon. Brandon. Brandon. Brandon wrote in and said, I wanted to see what either of you would do in a situation like this. About a week before, you got your Pilot Vanishing Point, Brad, from the pen shows. This is a long time ago, right? Yeah. Like early 20-teens. So a week before that, Brandon purchased theirs. I have used it almost every week since then. It was worn nicely over time, showing the brass that's underneath. Earlier this week, the rear barrel retaining collar for the plunger broke. So it's the plastic held underneath the collar piece where the knock is. Would you take your losses and appreciate the fact that you've got over 10 years of daily use out of this pen and move on to another daily writer? Or would you send it to Pilot to get it fixed, knowing that they will likely just replace it with a new body, losing the classic worn appearance? Have you seen this image yet? I've seen the image. So I'm going to put it in the show notes. I looked at it today. Okay. And I'm going to explain it to you. So imagine a black vanishing point in which essentially none of the black remains. And it is a very patinaed, scratched, marked brass barrel pen that I will say right now is gorgeous. Like it's beautiful.

Brad Dowdy: I love this. Then we're going to end up in the same place on this answer. Yeah. You hang it in the museum and you buy another one. Oh, we're not going to land in the same place. Okay. Try and get it fixed. I don't want this fixed. Because to Brandon's point, they're going to look at this and they're going to go, absolutely not.

Myke Hurley: Why do you think that?

Brad Dowdy: Because it's so old. And plus they're going to charge you probably, I don't know, $50 to $70 just to replace it. I think you're done. I think you hang it in the museum, appreciate, give it a good salute, say you performed well. Well, okay. I agree with you. Honestly, I would replace it with another exact one of the same. Yes. Just go round two.

Myke Hurley: But I would try and see if you can find someone or get Pilot to commit that the fix that they will do is replace what's needed. Right? Now that's fair. I could see that. That's what I mean. I think you should try to get this fixed, but not if it means that you risk losing this. Right?

Brad Dowdy: I actually wouldn't let this out of my hands. I would take it to a pen show and like a bigger, like a Washington DC and see if someone can do this. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: And similarly, we're putting it out there. If somebody out there believes that they can do it or knows someone that they can get in touch with us and we can pass that information on to Brandon. Because I think that this pen deserves to continue to live. But it needs, but I agree with you. If you believe that you can't like get it fixed or that, you know, basically you're told it's just replacement or nothing, then yeah, this becomes a thing that lives in your home somewhere. And then you buy another one and you do it all over again.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

Myke Hurley: This rule is so hard. I love this. I don't know what you do to get a pen like this. Like, I don't know what Brandon is doing with this pen.

Brad Dowdy: Using it every day for over a decade. Like, I don't have any products like that. Right? I have too many pens. I use too much stuff.

Myke Hurley: I just don't know how the use of a human does this.

Brad Dowdy: Like, I don't know what's happening. Well, if it's been in like a pocket or I don't know, man. It's aggressive.

Myke Hurley: It rolls. It's so good. It's beautiful. They should make this. If you're listening, make this pen. Sell this pen.

Brad Dowdy: Well, now you know why I like the Y Studio Brassing. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Pen Addict Brassing

Myke Hurley: No, I mean, I've always known why you like that pen. It's why I've always had an eye on one, but I've never actually done it.

Brad Dowdy: But yeah, I just gave me a head start. The Brassing pen gave me a head start on this. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Really beautiful. Brandon, let us know what you end up doing with it. If you can get it fixed.

Brad Dowdy: If we get any feedback on this piece and if it can be replaced, I have no clue. You can see it in the image of what needs to be. Someone who is an expert would know immediately, yes or no, what your options are here.

Myke Hurley: I feel like it has to be repairable. You just need to find the person who can do it.

Brad Dowdy: It does. I agree. You just got to find the parts, right? This isn't something that it's not that uncommon, but it's not normal. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: You know? And I have a transplant situation. Sacrifice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I would do. Like if someone said- Buy the cheapest used one you could find. Yeah, yeah. If someone says to me, oh, I can handle this. You just need to buy another one. No problem. I was going to buy another one anyway, right? And so now I get to buy one and keep my beautiful one? Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Easy. I would just buy like a beater and get that, you know, not buy a new one, right? You're not going to sacrifice a new part.

Myke Hurley: Well, unless you want a bit of color flag going on in the back there, you know? Get a different one, you know? Yeah, yeah. Wow.

Brad Dowdy: Good stuff.

Myke Hurley: This episode is brought to you by Squarespace, the all-in-one website platform that is designed to help you stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just starting out or scaling a business, Squarespace will give you everything that you need to claim your domain, showcase your offerings for a professional website, grow your brand, and get paid all in one place. With Squarespace, you can make your own online store. Whether you offer services, products, or both, Squarespace will give you everything that you need to grow your business and get paid all in one place. You can create a beautifully designed website or online store that showcases your brand and engages your customers. With easy online payments and built-in tools for inventory, shipping, and fulfillment, you can simplify your workflow and give customers a seamless shopping experience, just like Brad does over at the Pan Addict. You know, I think it's super helpful that, you know, when you're a Squarespace customer, you start out like Brad did, he's like, oh, I just want to have a blog. And then over time, you're like, you know what? I could sell something. You don't have to set up a separate website. It just becomes part of your website. It's not like a link that you click and now you're sent somewhere else. No, it's just built into your website. It makes it easy for you. It makes it easy for your customers. And it just really makes the whole thing much, much nicer. You can offer expanded global shipping options now, too. You can automatically calculate shipping costs using real-time rates from local carriers based on the destination, size, and weight of each order. This eliminates manual calculations and avoids over or undercharging customers for shipping. Go and try all this out for yourself by going to squarespace.com slash penaddict and sign up for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use the offer code penaddict. This will save you 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That is squarespace.com slash penaddict and the code penaddict, and you'll get 10% off your first purchase and show your support for the show. Our thanks to Squarespace for their support of this show and all of Relay. All right, Myke, we got our shout-out of the week. Shout-out of the week.

Brad Dowdy: The penaddict. Oh, I love that guy. I know that guy. Number one fan. So, I'm doing this because I kind of wanted to give an update over the next couple of weeks of what's going on in the blog. And I guess the podcast, we can handle this too. After this podcast, we're going to be off for two weeks. Two weeks. After, like, next Monday on the blog, it's going to be quiet for, like, two weeks, right? I'm not taking my laptop. I'm not planning on doing any work while I'm on this trip. Um, you know, it's just going to be kind of me enjoying the trip and not worrying about anything else. So, I think I will be active maybe on Instagram. Just posting photos and things that I'm doing and maybe a couple of live things or a couple of videos and things like that. Um, you know, just sharing kind of, like, what I'm up to. Just because that's going to be a fun part of the trip. Just this whole discovery aspect of going to a new country I've never been to before that has all the stationery in the world. So, um, I just wanted to throw that out there and, um, yeah, follow along. You better be posting on Instagram, Brad. Yeah. That's kind of my plan. Like, again, like, I'm not even taking my laptop. I'm not going to do any work related stuff. You know, I'm just looking forward to, like, being there and enjoying it and discovering stuff. I don't know. It's going to be really fun. Um, so, yeah. So, there'll be lots of travel content starting next week. Um, I still, what am I, like, five days, five days away from leaving? Something like that. So, um, that'll be next week. So, the, everything will run as normal the rest of this week up to Monday. And then we're probably just going to lights out for, like, a week and a half. Um, which will be totally cool. Like, I'm looking forward to a little break. I've never done that on the blog. I've always, anytime I've traveled, I've always kept the regular schedule. I've never, never taken time off. It's a whole new thing for me. So, um, also, I wanted to put out an update, which I just did this morning on the St. Jude incentive fulfillment. So, like, the postcards and the ink ponies that I have to do. Um, I'm still just getting started on this stuff. So, I just wanted to give everyone an idea of what the time frames are looking like for the incentive fulfillment. So, a lot of it's going to happen, like, in full high gear when I get back from Japan. So, I'm, um, trickling some stuff out this week and this weekend. But the bulk of it's going to be when I get back from the trip, for obvious reasons. We had a huge spoke release. We had, you know, just a lot going on that I haven't had time to get these done. But it's not going to be any problem to get them done by the end of the year. So, just wanted to give everyone an update who was looking for that and who supported our wonderful campaign for St. Jude. So, there you go. Shout out me just with the updates on what's going on. So, because Myke, this is the episode before Japan. Here we go. Here we go. He's doing it. I'm doing it. Um, again, uh, weather, DVD, I think we're going to be okay. I'm crossing my fingers. We still have time. Um, but how about I give a little quick overview of what I'm doing, where I'm going, um, and then, you know, maybe some stationary things I'm looking for. And then we got some questions from listeners. Um, this will be my first trip, obviously, to Japan. I'm going to Tokyo and Kyoto. And this is not a stationary slash work trip for me, except for a couple items, which I will talk about. And I'm going with my wife and we're going with another couple. So, there's actually four of us going. Uh, two of us very into stationary, two of us very not into stationary. So, we'll get to do some stationary stuff, but it's really not like a bouncing around to hit all the stationary stops type of, um, trip. I've mentioned on Twitch, um, it's going to be an accidental stationary trip, which I'm actually looking forward to. Like, I have a couple of plans and then mostly no plans. So, we'll be in, uh, Tokyo, a couple different areas.

Typhoon Forecast

Myke Hurley: I'm taking a look at the weather, Brad. When is this, what's this typhoon all about? Weather looks fine, according to Canada weather in Tokyo.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. But if you look at the typhoon map, like the projected path for like the next five days, it looks like it's going to smoke Japan. Right. Um, and hopefully it lightens up. It's really, really bad right now. It's like a high intensity storm, like very high up in the levels, but it's out over open water. So, it's not really damaging anything or anyone, thankfully. Um, and you know, it looks like it's going to kind of pass through where we're going like on the Monday, next Monday, and then we land on Wednesday. So, I think we're going to be okay, but TBD.

Myke Hurley: I mean, that would suggest you would be, right? I know. I see it. You never know how these storms.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, baby. Look at that thing. The path looks really bad for where we're going. So, it just might be, we, we might be on the tail end of it or the day after, which is what I'm crossing my fingers for. So, yeah. Um, so yeah, it's not, it's not pretty, it's not a pretty map, is it?

Myke Hurley: No, it's quite aggressive. I think I'm going to close that. Yeah. I don't like to look at that at all.

Brad Dowdy: If I was going this week, we'd be in real trouble. We'd be in legit, legit trouble. So, um, we're splitting time between Tokyo and Kyoto. Um, staying in a couple of different areas in Tokyo and then having some time in Kyoto. Doing all the things. So, stationary planning. So, what I'm doing is really just going, uh, consider it like a family trip, right? Just friends, family, just doing, doing, um, you know, vacation slash touristy slash being there things, right? You know, seeing temples. We're not doing any like the, um, no theme parks or anything. And we're not doing like any of the Disney stuff or universal stuff or we're just going to be there and take it all in. Um, one of the people we're going with has been there many, many times. So, we have a pretty good guide in, in that aspect of things. So, that's very fun. From a stationary perspective, I do have two things scheduled and then one thing on the list that we're going to go to. So, let me hit those for the stationary, um, aspects of this trip. So, one, we're going to go to the Plotter Japan flagship store, um, and hopefully meet up with, uh, Takayuki, who you met at the stationary fest, um, who we interviewed at stationary fest, actually. And, um, he's hopefully going to be there, uh, to meet up with us when we go to the Plotter store, which I definitely want to see. You know, it's a very small, unique little store and, uh, hopefully we get to see him, meet him. Oh, not meet him. I've met him many times, but see him. He'll meet us there and, uh, show us around, uh, the shop, which will be great. I'm also getting to go to the Design Phil headquarters, which if you're not familiar, when I say the name Design Phil, they're actually the parent company of Plotter, Midori, MD Product, Travelers Co. Um, so I'm going to get a tour of their corporate offices while we're there. So that should be super fun. I'm also going to be interviewed for, by the MD product team. You know, that's who, uh, worked with me on making the notebook, the Panatic notebook, um, you know, for the, for the shop. Yeah. And so that'll be super fun. And so I'm already like committing, uh, all of us people that don't necessarily want to do these things. I'm kind of committing is like, Hey, can we do this for me while we're there? And, uh, they, they are, uh, very much looking forward to this. They're excited to, to go do these things. Cause it's not something you would normally get to do going to Japan. So we'll get a, we'll get a tour. I'll have to sit, I'll sit for an interview there and do that. So that's like my official capacity stuff, like scheduled stuff. And then the only other thing I asked for, for this group is that we did get to go to the big Atoya in Genza, right? Which is like the mother ship. It's 12, sorry. 12, 12, 12 stories. I believe. Yeah. Six. Not all stationary. Like, like one's levels, like the cafe and you know, stuff like that. So, um, I just wanted to go there and like, I don't know what I'm looking for there, but I just want to like, I feel like I have to go there. Like that is the kind of like the, the goat store in pretty much the world of stationary. Yeah. Right. It's just, you, you just go do it. So, um, that's my stationary plans. Like there's a billion other places we could go. And if we're adjacent to something, we might go, but like, I'm not planning a full stationary tour all day, every day where I'm going to like Bungu box, which I'd love to go to Kakamori, which would be at the top of my list. You know, all there's, it's just endless, right? We could do this all day, every day for a week in Japan going to stationary, but that's not really what this trip is for. So I asked for these few things. We're going to do that. And then anything else is going to be accidental stationary. Right. So I did make a little short list. I don't have a huge shopping list of things that I'm looking for. And the more I look at this list, I might end up with a lot of mechanical pencils. Myke, I think this might be a mechanical pencil trip. So the two things on my list that started my list are the Uniball Kuretoga Dive, the new black one, the gunmetal one.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Even though I'm not a dive fan, if I can get that at like normal retail, I would probably buy that. And if nothing else to just give it away or buy two and keep one, give one away, something like that. The next thing which I really want for myself is the Safari Kuretoga, which I've never gotten. They've, they've yet to come to the U S and I've yet to just be bothered with ordering one. You can order one. You have one, right?

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So like you, like I could order one. I just haven't gotten around to it, but now it got too close to this trip. I was like, well, I am going to Japan. So let me just get one there. That should be something I should find easily. I think that's like a stock item there. Um, and I should probably pick up some Lamy M 17 refills, the jet stream refill while I'm there, because there'll be like half the cost. They are here in the U S. Um, they'll probably be more like $8 instead of $15, which I'll be honest, I'll happily pay $15 for that refill, which is an insane thing to say. I'm complaining about a $200 steel nib sailor, but I'm like, give me that $15 refill, baby. It sounds ridiculous. Um, one pencil that, uh, a friend of mine that goes to Japan sometimes brings me back and she's a big collector of them. The Pentel smash has a lot of limited editions and you know, I love that pencil. So I think one of the things that'll happen on the accidental stationary part of the tour will be, is if I pop into a shop and see what limited edition stuff they have for those shops, right? It could be pencils, pens, inks, whatever. That's kind of the thing that I think is going to get me on this trip. And that's why I'm kind of keeping this pretty open, right? You know, what kind of interesting limited editions can I find? What kind of stationary can I buy that I've only seen like on Instagram? Like there's a pencil brand called Laconic. That's, you know, my friend Derek reminded me of yesterday. You know, like they're a very, um, niche mechanical pencil brand, but I bet I could find them in Japan. Um, the whole Pentel smash thing, they have so many colors that are just not accessible to the outside of Japan market. And it's literally one of my favorite pencils, um, to, to use. So finding that kind of stuff, I have a feeling I'll buy a lot of stationary, but I'm not necessarily looking for anything. Okay. I don't, I don't know that there's any like big fountain pen purchase in the cards. That's going to be something that will fall into the, the accidental category. If all of a sudden I run into something like super unique, right? Like, I don't know, even know what that would be. Some like purple, you know, that I didn't know purple, like pilot custom 823 that, you know, only a hundred were made for this store. And it's like $500 or something like that. It's like, ah, that actually might come up with me or something, but I, I'm not expecting a lot of that. I'm expecting more in the zero to $50 range stationary shopping between notebooks, pens, pencils, things like that. So I, it's going to be cool that it's just going to kind of happen naturally outside of like my Atoya visit. Um, I'm just going to let whatever happens happens. So to that end, I didn't look at all the questions we have. Yeah. Should we talk about what I'm bringing?

Myke Hurley: Yes. Let's talk about that.

Brad Dowdy: Was that, was that a question or no?

Myke Hurley: Just, just, just, you carry on with your things and I'll handle the questions.

Brad Dowdy: So the stationary I'm bringing is none. At all? At all. I think we mentioned this. I don't know if we mentioned this last week or what I was planning on doing. So someone mentioned this because I was thinking, I was like, what stationary do I bring? And it would be pretty light. Bring like a notebook and a pen and then just kind of go with whatever I come across. I think I'm actually going to go even stronger at that and just go with nothing and buy like a notebook and a pen, like the, for the day that I arrive and then just start from there. And then, you know, maybe by the end I have, who knows how much stationary, but I think I don't need to bring anything. Right. Why should I bring something?

Myke Hurley: I mean, you are going to the land to, to acquire, right?

Brad Dowdy: Well, it's okay. So I will say there is an asterisk.

Brad Dowdy: I do need to bring some of my notebooks to design fill, right? They've asked for a photo shoot with some of my Midori notebooks. So I technically do have to pack some stationary, but I'm not bringing that stuff to use. You know, I mean, I could, I totally could, but I think I want to just land and find something to use. Like it didn't. And honestly, it's probably going to be just like a traveler's notebook insert. Like I'm not buying like a traveler's like system, like leather cover, but like the traveler's notebooks are so huge over there. I could probably just grab one because I'm going to need something for stamps and stickers. Like stamping is a whole big thing over there that I want to like take advantage of. So I'm going to need something pretty soon, but like, I would be happy if I rolled off the plane, got a traveler's notebook and a jet stream and then found more stuff as we went. So I'm literally bringing nothing except what's required to bring to Midori. So I'll bring a few notebooks for that. They said bring some pens. I don't, I don't know what I'm going to. Yeah, we'll see. TBD, TBD on that one. But yeah, I'm not bringing anything for personal use, not even like on the plane or whatever. I'm just going to, I'm just going to go for it.

Myke Hurley: I'm surprised about that, that you wouldn't even, you don't even, you don't actually have like your travel journal kind of like pre decided or something.

Notebook Selection

Brad Dowdy: So I think the issue with that is it's hard to decide what to bring. And I was sweating it and someone said, well, what if you just bring nothing and buy something when you get there? And then I kind of latched onto that, right? That kind of cleared my head from having to make a decision on what notebook, pen and pencil I'm going to bring. And I could just get something there. It's not like, you know, no offense to any other airport in the U.S. It's not like I'm flying into LAX and then like struggling to find like stationary. I'm literally flying into Japan. I'm going to be okay. You know, it's like, I'm going to have stuff at the tips of my fingers, like very, very fast. And I kind of, once someone said that to me, I kind of, that kind of felt right to me, the right decision instead of bringing my own stuff. Because as soon as I bring my own stuff, I'm going to find something else anyway and put that stuff to the side. So I might as well just go for it while I'm there.

Myke Hurley: All right. Should we get some questions? Let's do it. So you may have answered most of this one, but I wonder if it will spark something in you anyway. So Jack writes in and says, what stationary stores does Brad definitely want to go to while there? And are there any specific product categories that you want to pick up that are hard to get in the U.S.? And I know you mentioned pencils and stuff, but are there any other kind of like Japanese stationary items in the broader category that are interesting to you?

Brad Dowdy: Yes. So let's do this, the stores real quick. So I mentioned Plotter and Atoya. I will be at both of those. My friends want to go to the Traveler's store, which should be great. Like they have the Traveler's factory store. They have, they have many. So we're probably going to do that as well. And then that's, that's the only like kind of scheduled stops. Right. So the other stuff is the types of things that I want to pick up that Jack asked. I think the notebooks are going to be interesting to me. I'm really interested from what I've seen online. Kikuyo does some pretty wild stuff in the Japan market. So I've, they act, they even have like a corporate store. Like, I don't know if we'll ever see that or go buy that. It looks like they do some, they do some, let's call it, I don't know what they call it, but let's call it Kikuyo Labs. Right. Just kind of like the experimental stuff that they do like at the corporate office. Like seeing the companies do weird stuff just for the Japanese market. That is my category. It could be pens, pencil. I think it's going to be a lot of paper, which that's going to be a hard thing to travel with. So I'll kind of manage, try to manage that. So yeah, I think it's going to be, the category is going to be paper and then interesting standard pens. Like what does the pilot friction like look over there? And is it anything different than we have access to? You know, what, you know, what jet stream, what are the big companies that I love doing in Japan that might be different than what I have access to? And it might not be a lot, you know, maybe it's the same things. But I think that's my biggest curiosity is what does a pilot or a Uniball or a Zebra or a Pentel offer that is just something I've never seen before? Is that a thing? Is that going to be a category? And if it is, I imagine that's going to be a pretty big category. I think it's going to be kind of an all or nothing. It's either I've seen it all or I haven't seen anything. And I think it's going to be more the latter. Like I think it's going to be some pretty cool stuff that I'm going to find. And that's why I'm saying I bet you how this goes. And I could be very wrong. I think a lot of my stationary purchases will be in that zero to $50 category, right? Just for this reason that I'm talking about. That's what excites me the most anyway, right? Always has, always been. I love my fountain pens. I hope I find some cool fountain pens like a limited edition, you know, Pilot Kakuno. Or like there's some build your own Pilot Kakuno stations out there now. I don't know if there's, you know, anywhere we're going. You know, something like that. That'd be super cool. So outside of that, I'll be looking at smaller Japanese specific brands, right? Products that are really unique to the area that are not broadly known that, you know, maybe should be that are interesting to me. I think I'll see a decent amount of really not local, but like regional based stuff that could be interesting. Like that's kind of what I'm looking for on this trip. Maybe it's a fountain pen. I don't know. But I have a feeling it's going to be more like regular pens, mechanical pencils, things like that. So lots of little things is my gut feeling going into this and extra luggage on the way home.

Myke Hurley: Of course. Andrew asks, will any non-Asian fountain pens be allowed to go with you on this journey? So you're not bringing anything, but can you imagine a scenario where you would allow yourself to buy something that wasn't from like a Japanese brand?

Brad Dowdy: A hundred percent. And you know what it is. Well, technically they are a Japanese brand. Lamy does some sick Japanese special editions.

Myke Hurley: Yes. Okay.

Brad Dowdy: Does that count? I think it counts.

Myke Hurley: Is Lamy an Asian brand? It is now.

Brad Dowdy: It is now. It is now.

Brad Dowdy: If by, I doubt this is going to be a thing, but they always do a Safari limited edition for a Toya. And I've got the first three. I don't think it's time for the next one. That would be sick if that happened to be available while I was there. Um, they do some other cool stuff. Um, some branded stuff over there. Lamy, uh, would be good. That's the only brand I can think of that would even be remotely interesting. And now they're technically an Asian brand. And so I don't know if that counts or not, but if, since I'm not taking anything, would any non-Asian fountain pens be allowed? Yes. But I don't know what they are since I pretty much use all Asian pens outside. Like I could see myself taking like a Lloyd's term, like a Dregger fell pencil or pen, right? Like that, like the Lloyd's term, the Dregger fell pencil is actually a great travel companion. Um, I'm just not going to take it like, but that would be towards the top of the list. If I was going to pack like a, say like a brass town that holds holds like six plus pens, I'd probably have a couple of fountain pens, a couple, uh, regular pens, a pencil or two. Uh, the Dregger fell pencil would be like from the, uh, non-Japanese category. The other brand that seems to do decent over there. And I'm not sure how many like Japan exclusives they have. Karen dash, I think does like pretty well in Japan. I see a lot of collaborative stuff with them. I'm not sure that that's on my radar if I'll pick anything up, but that's, that's one non-Japanese brand that I'd be interested to see what they do. Cause I think they're pretty big over there. And I'm wondering if there's like some special editions. Cause you know, I like my, my Karen dash like eight 49s and fixed pencils. I would love it if I had like a Japan exclusive fixed pencil. I would a hundred percent buy that. So that would be good.

Myke Hurley: Uh, also, uh, Andrew asks, will you seek out any special food? Have you got anything on your mind? Anything a little out there as part of your eating? Journey in Japan?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So Andrew mentioned puffer fish. I'm not going to go out of my way. I would try puffer fish. Okay. There's very, I'm pretty open to trying food. Like that's actually going to be maybe the best thing about this trip is food. Um, I'm pretty open about the only thing like watching all the videos and all the content. The only thing I'm not interested in eating is raw chicken. Like, I don't know that I could go that far. That's a popular thing at some of like the very chicken specialty places. Yeah. So there's like a sushi grade chicken. Huh? Right. That some of the places sell.

Myke Hurley: I don't think I could bring myself to do that. I don't think I could do that. Just because of my entire life's programming.

Brad Dowdy: Right. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Um, but every,

Myke Hurley: I'm just so crazy with eggs at home. Yeah, exactly. Cause when there was a big salmonella problem when I was a kid.

Brad Dowdy: Exactly. Um, so otherwise, like I'm really looking forward to like, I like eel, right? So I like, you know, eel, like an eel bowl or any like eel, any like, um, yakitori style food, just the basic chicken, you know, grilled on a meat on a stick, you know? Um, obviously sushi. I'm pretty open to almost, I'm going to try a lot of stuff. I actually made a, um, I made a convenience store, uh, bingo card I put on my Instagram that I'm going to try, um, try to make, uh, try to get some bingos on my convenience store card, you know, just trying all the classics.

Myke Hurley: You've got to try the 7-Eleven egg mayonnaise sandwich or whatever.

Brad Dowdy: That's literally the free spot. That's like the number one, like first, first thing like you got to do. And it's like, so like social media overhyped, but I think it actually lives up to the hype. It's one of those things that I think the expectation is like, this is, this is overrated and it turns out it's just not, it's just not. So yeah, um, we'll be eating lots of stuff and, um, there's no one thing I'm looking forward to more than anything. I'm looking forward to all of it. Like, I want to try all of it. Like I'm, I'm very much in to like everything, um, like on the food scene in Japan. Um, I heard that they have like some good pizza spots too, which is interesting. Like some very like, you know, trained in Italy type chef, you know, wood fired oven pizza places. Right.

Myke Hurley: Everyone wants to go to Japan. It's like London. We have great food in London because everyone wants to go to London, you know? I love London. I think Japan has even more of that idea behind it. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I always eat good in London. Mm-hmm. Uh, Lisa asks, are you planning to shop for bags or backpacks in Japan? If so, where, or are there other stationary adjacent shopping plans in mind?

Non-Stationery Items

Brad Dowdy: Okay. So there are two things on my shopping list that are not stationary. I don't have a very long shopping list. Um, but there are two things that one of them I know for a fact I'm going to get, cause it should be pretty easy. So the original, like they remake the original Casio G-Shock. There's like a modern version of it. And then there's a Japan made in Japan factory version that they sell only in Japan. I'm going to get that watch. It's not super uncommon. Like I feel like I should be able to find that relatively easy. Um, so that's on my list. I just think it's just a classic. And then you get the, the made in Japan version. It looks like the, the standard version, but the materials are all upgraded and it's just really nice. And it's not crazy expensive. It's expensive. Um, but it's like $250 expensive, $300 expensive, which is expensive. But like when you're talking like for a digital watch, that's, you know, kind of expensive, but it's very unique and it's this factory series that they have over there. Um, that looks great. So I'm very much into that. That's at the top of my list. And as far as I can tell, it's pretty readily available. Like the one that I want. Um, so looking for that. And then I'm a hundred, I'm 99% sure. I don't want to say a hundred percent. Nothing's ever a hundred percent. I think it's a hundred percent that I'm going to buy a backpack. Okay. I've actually, you know, I'm a bad guy. It's actually been years since I've bought a new backpack. Um, so this is the time I'm not going with the backpack. So we're traveling light carry on only. And I'm actually, well, my carry on is a backpack, but not like a city, like a day type of backpack. Like a, it's like a big, you know, 35 liter backpack. Um, and then a sling bag or like my two things I'm going with. I'm pretty sure I will have a backpack in the first few days of the trip. I don't know specifically what I want. I would love to have a North Face purple label, uh, backpack. So that's their, uh, made in Japan version. Uh, it's called purple label. They don't really have, those aren't the easiest to find, but they should be around. And the designs, they only do a few of them. So I don't know that those designs right now are what I'm looking for. There's obviously the famous Porter, um, company that makes insane bags. I don't know that I want to spend five or $600 on a backpack.

Brad Dowdy: It would have to be pretty special, pretty unique, uh, for that. I definitely want to go look at the Porter stuff just because they're just like the OG classic, you know, just classic Japan. Um, there's another company called masterpiece, which I think has like a flagship store there. And then has like at retail, like some other bags and backpacks, they might be. So what I'm looking for, if I'm going to buy a backpack, I'm looking for an old classic, you know, school stuff, school book bag style. Right. I'm not looking for like an overbuilt, over constructed pockets everywhere type of bag. I'm looking for, um, like, do you know what I'm talking about? I don't even know what the design is, but it's a basic like vintage, you know, top zip outside front pocket type of bag. Classic old school bag, like popular, like in the eighties. Um, so I don't know who has that or, or what's going to have that. A couple other stores I'm going to hit beams is very well known. They carry their own stuff and they carry other brands. Like they'll probably have like Porter there. That's probably where I would find something that fits the style I'm looking for. Um, and they have a lot of shops over there and that's probably going to be like my favorite store just from like a style perspective. That's the kind of clothes and stuff I like. The other brand I'm looking at, which I was never familiar with them until like I was seeing it on Japan videos. There's a company called Danton, D-A-N-T-O-N. They're actually a French, French brand, which I didn't know, but are popular in Japan just because of that streetwear style. Their stuff looks sick and they have like some pretty basic classic looking bags and backpacks. Um, that might be the ticket. So I am a watch and a backpack are probably the two things that I'm going to come home with from this trip. Um, in addition to just a billion random stationer items. Otherwise I'm not really looking for much, right? I just want to be there. Um, you know, enjoy the environment. Enjoy being there. Enjoy the shrines. We're going to go to a lot of shrines, eat a lot of food, do a lot of walking. And then like all the shopping stuff is just going to be, like I said, accidental stationary, right? I'm not really outside of the first couple of things that I have like essentially booked. Um, it's just going to be free, free to free to roam. And, uh, I'm really, really looking forward to it.

Myke Hurley: Well, I hope you all have the best time and I cannot wait to hear all the stories and see all the photos and hear about everything you got up to. It's going to be amazing. I'm very jealous, but I'm super excited for you.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm ready. Like these last few days are going to be tough. Cause like, I think I'm like, I'm done, right? Like if I don't have things for this trip now, I'm, it's probably too late. So now I just got to figure out how to stuff everything in a 35 liter backpack and, and go from there. But I'm feeling good about our prep. I'm feeling good about packing. Um, hopefully I'm going to feel good about the weather come Monday. Everything will be clear. I have high hopes. And then, and then we'll go, then we'll go. And it's, it's going to be exciting. And I can't wait to share it with all y'all when I get back.

Myke Hurley: So we'll be back now on November 12th, just as a reminder. So you've got a couple of weeks of no pen addict. Uh, go listen to old episodes, guest episodes and stuff like that. Yeah. You have a good time. Uh, I want to thank Squarespace for the support of the show. Uh, as Brad said, go follow him on Instagram. He's at pen addict and you'll be able to, uh, keep up everything that he's doing there. Uh, until next time, Brad say sayonara. Sayonara, Brad.