Editing The Pen Addict 619/transcript (section)

== Education and inclusivity in Japanese pen shows ==

* So Kaoru, who started the show, was insistent that, you know, not only do we serve the current fan base, but she wanted to carry on this art form to the next generation. Education was a big part of her. So she really wanted to do something that was welcoming and, you know, approachable to people who were found to have been curious in this world of digital and everything.
* So we really had a focus on how can we make it approachable? So we were doing several things. Oh, sorry. To backtrack a little bit. They had also spent a lot of time in American pens shows. Kaoru and Endo have been to, you know, LA Pens Show, DC Pens Show. They were intrigued by this community, almost like a fan fest. And how it was just pure, unadulterated fun and love for this field. So they, and that didn't exist in Japan. You know, it was kind of a, almost a blind sight that, you know, Japan is the mecca of all these great stationery, but why isn't there a pens show? So they said, let's do it. They initially planned on renting out half a floor of a convention center. And everybody was, all the naysayers were saying, boy, that's, that's way too big. You guys got to tone back. And then Kaoru is kind of a force of nature. She just, she bulldozes through. She, she doesn't take, you know, she, she doesn't, it's not analysis. It's like, don't stop me. I'm doing this. It's will. Like, it's will. Like she wills it. She wills it. Absolutely. And that's how she's very non kind of traditional here. And people just, it's like, she's already gone so many steps ahead of people. People are frantically trying to chase her. And it turned out, she, they filled out the half floor in no time. So they had to expand to a full floor. Luckily, the other half of the floor was open. And that's how they started the first pens show. And from the beginning to make it approachable, they did several things. One was we have a mascot. So the mascot's a penguin. And there's a Japanese phrase called the first penguin. I never heard that in the States or in English, but it describes the first penguin that jumps into the ocean. And then all the penguins follow after that. And she felt like, you know, this, they were being the first penguin. They were doing something that had never been done before. And she was hoping that if they jump in the water, everybody would follow. And to some degree, that has happened in Japan. It's become a big thing. And so that's one thing. We have our penguin. And then we also, every year we decide to have a theme, kind of a playful theme. Last year, it was the penguin's harvest party. You know, it's always, it takes place in November. So it's in fall time. We've done tea parties. We've done Christmas parties. We did a harvest party. This year, the theme is the penguin family tours the world.
* So once we set a theme, we hire a professional designer to create a poster for us with the penguin and the theme. That's kind of a way to bring in a little playfulness to the event. We started from one floor. And since last year, we've occupied two floors of a brand new, this spectacular conference center.
* Soft Bank is a huge tech company in Japan. The bottom four floors of their worldwide headquarters is owned by the Tokyo City government as a trade center location. So we're like in the smack center of Tokyo in this brand new building with trees all around. It's just the location alone is gorgeous. You know how most pen shows have a name that's different from the actual physical location?
* In our case, that's not the case.
* I have commentary. I'm just going to keep myself on that one. Yes, good job.
* We're lucky. And then we're in two floors.
* I asked Kaoru, what's the one thing I should plug about this year's tips? And this is another head scratcher. It just kind of shows how she's in her own world. She said, make sure you point out that the top floor is the northern hemisphere and the bottom floor is the southern hemisphere.
* This is going to be a world tour. People are going to come and tour the world by visiting all the booths. And the big point is that this year we have the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere. So it's an experience. It's a full experience. Oh, that's amazing that she said that. So we have like a theme ink for the show. So it'll be something to do with the world tour or something. We ask exhibitors to try to come up with show exclusives if possible along that theme. So, you know, it's hard to ask people to create a product. But if there are smaller companies that do paper products or leather products, they can try to do something to match the theme. Yeah. Now, one thing I love about American shows is how they take place in hotels. You know, that gives you the ability to just linger forever. Right. I was shocked when I went to my first Pen show. I was expecting a more structured event. And, you know, it's just you don't know when it starts. You don't know when it ends. When you're at the bar, you don't know who's the seller and who's the buyer. Because it sure seems like that buyer is trying to sell something to that seller. You know, it's just like the blurring of the, you know, the maker and the consumer is wonderful. And how, you know, because it's at a hotel, you can linger forever. Now, the challenge in Japan is that hotels, one of their primary source of income is weddings. So, any hotel with a decent sized ballroom is booked years in advance for these weddings. You know, and they cycle through, you know, 15 couples a day. Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching. So, for us to try to reserve a hotel for a whole weekend is virtually impossible. It's still my dream to one day have the Tokyo Pen show. And when that becomes a reality, we probably won't be in Tokyo. We will be following the global trend of, you know, Tokyo Pen show not in Tokyo. But, you know. Yeah, I'm going to save that clip for later usage when I have to travel over there. I was like, hey, remember this?
* So, we tried to, within, you know, we do have, you know, we have to leave at night. But we try to make it fun. One thing that I think we stand out is we rely heavily on volunteers. We have, we signed up about 80 volunteers last year. And, you know, we prep them. We train them. And they have kind of an apron. They all wear orange aprons. So, they feel like they're part of this. They're part of the inside, not the outside. What we find is a lot of people who don't know much about fountain pens love participating. Because then they meet people and, you know, while they're working to get to learn about it. So, we feel like that energy, the passion that they bring, kind of sets the vibe of the show floor itself. And even though we can't have, you know, a party for the public, one thing we started doing a few years ago is it's a three-day event. On the night of the second day, we have an exclusive time for the volunteers to go shopping. So, after we kick out all the guests, we ask the exhibitors to stay.
* And, well, actually, we close off half the show so that the people, half of the vendors can go shop and with the volunteers. And we actually serve alcohol. So, we have like a little toast. And then we encourage vendors to bring foods or drinks from their local town or country. And we have, you know, as much as we can try to recreate that community feel. A relaxed environment where people can talk shop. They can peruse around. And they offer special discounts. Like you roll a die and then they will take off whatever percent based on what kind, you know, what kind of die came out. And then it's fun because vendors start competing. Like Nagasawa will say that, okay, we'll let you roll a die. And give you exactly that amount percent off. And then another company will say, we will double that. It's kind of the fun, very festive atmosphere that we truly believe. Then the volunteers bring that back to the show floor. And just this, it just does not feel corporate at all. You have me ready to book a ticket. Okay. So, let me also make some disclaimers.
* We want to be the best show. We want, you know, come on, this is Japan. We want all the best of the best of Japan to be there. But we don't have, we don't have Platinum. We don't have Pilot.
* We've been working on them. Sailor, we have only because the head of our show, Kaoru at Bunga Box, is such a big customer of Sailor. And she has her way of twisting arms. But Platinum and Pilot aren't there because they don't sell direct. They have an extensive distributor network. To them, to sidestep their distributors and sell directly is a big taboo because, you know, they're offending, they're taking business away from their customers. Mm-hmm. So, we keep, you know, we're trying, we're working on them. We tell them, hey, I see you're in American pen shows. Why can't you do it for us? And then they kind of muffle their voice and say, well, our international division is more desperate. We don't have to do that to sell our products. So, you know, it's this attitude. And then, you know, the vendors like Nakaya and Namiki and even the real boutique places like Boku Mondo, they are so behind. You know, they have such high demand. Right. They're not out there to find another customer. And the kicker is the exchange rate has gone, shifted significantly over the past year and a half. The dollar is so much more powerful than the yen now. It's gone up by about 50%. So, it's a bargain for Americans to come here and shop. Yeah. The local market, you know, they're just not buying the high-end stuff. So, Namiki, if they have a choice, they'd rather go to Dubai or America. You know, they'll make more money that way than coming to Japan. You know, we're getting more and more international visitors, you know, high spenders. And that's starting to sink in, but they still view this as a Japanese show for a Japanese audience. So, the premium brands, you know, you would expect them to be here. They're not quite there. I feel our strength is really in the small to medium vendors who don't make it even to the big Japanese retailers. The things that you have to go, you know, ride a three-hour train ride to get to. They're really kind of off the beaten path places. We have a great representation of them. So, you know, you can make a visit to Tokyo any given Sunday and go to Itoya and find a great selection of products. But there's still things that just don't make it to those stores. Those are the vendors that we have at our show. And we do have some of the biggest retailers. We have Nagasawa. We have Itoya. There's also a boutique, a fountain pen store called Shosaikan in Tokyo. They all exhibit at our show. So, we're leaning on them to try to bring out not only their store exclusives, but some of the, you know, their high-end pilots and platines and namikis and stuff. Yeah. So, those products are still represented from a distributor perspective, right? Just not necessarily from, like, the big corporate perspective. But I do think that's the beauty of the pen show anyway is I want to go and discover some things too. Even if I'm not buying something from everyone that I'm discovering there, I'm discovering new people to, you know, look at in the future. These smaller businesses, I think, are really what drive, like, what we do. You know, there's, the big companies are great. And, you know, I'm a huge, you know, Pilot and Platinum and Sailor fan and use those products, like, a ton. But the joy of sitting there talking to the person that made the thing, like, your friend Taizo at Yamamoto Papers, one of my favorite people on the planet. Like, someone that's just so passionate about the singular thing that they do. Like, you cannot beat that. And you get that at pen shows and especially somewhere like the Tokyo International Pen Show. Right, right. That's so true. And that's what I'm so happy about that, you know, we've, to the best of our abilities, we're trying to recreate that direct interaction and the people, you know, connecting the passionate people on both ends. And one more thing I want to add for us, what's important is the I in TIPS, the international part of TIPS, both from a vendor's perspective as well as visitors. You know, it is a pen show primarily for Japanese audience. So we want to give our audience a chance to interact with these non-Japanese vendors who don't have representation in Japan or, you know, are that Japanese customers have heard about but never had a chance to touch. So we've been working hard to bring vendors from the States. We have Franklin Kristoff, Shone Design, Gina's, you know, Custom Knits Studio with Gina, as well as Endless Stationery from India, Galen Leather from Turkey. They took a gamble and showed up. And I think they were very happy with what, you know, they're having their interactions. Yeah. And unfortunately, you know, with COVID, all that had to stop. And, you know, last year was the first year we had our show post-COVID when all the restrictions were lifted. And I don't have stats, but I was impressed by how many people from Asia, you know, a lot from all around Asia, as well as North America and Europe, people who came to attend the show. And the vendors came up to me and said, you know, for the first time, I'm really motivated to learn English because I've never been to a show with, you know, so such diverse customer base. And that really excited them and validated them. Like, wow, these people are interested in what I do. Yeah. You know, they haven't thought of themselves. You know, to you, it's obvious that there's a global love for this stuff. They're just kind of stuck in their shell. Sure. And this is, there's still so much potential. And you, the audience who comes to visit the show, makes them want to stretch beyond, you know, their comfort zone and, you know, talk to you and hear what you think. They're starving for that input. So I think it's a mutually beneficial thing. And you get to see, you know, what's not out in the world yet. And they get to hear from you. What moves the needle for you? Because, like, you know, we've, Brad and I have had this conversation a lot. You know, what appeals here doesn't necessarily appeal there. Um, there's so much synergy there and excitement that I'm really excited. This year, I'm focusing on expanding the international, just participation base because I think it'd be so much fun. And I like to think of how to recreate that funness that I benefited from so much at American Pen Shows. Yeah. And I, I, it seems as someone who's never been, it seems like you're on the right track because just last year watching it from afar, you could tell like the vibe and the feel was different. It seemed bigger. It seemed like more people were there. Um, you know, I heard a lot more of my friends going either from a vendor perspective or from an attendee perspective. So, yeah, like, I think it's only, like, it's only the start in, in with, with tips as far as, far as I'm concerned. And I have just got to make it a point. And I've been, I've been on it for years to, to make it a point to, to get over there. And that's, it's just going to happen soon because it, it just has to, right. It's like, it's going to be like, it's going to be amazing. It's going to be amazing. All right. So, I want to talk about one more thing that we've, uh, discussed a little bit, um, before. And that is, uh, Bungu Box. So, I want to hit up on that before we wrap up today's show. But first, let me talk about our second sponsor. And that is our friends over at Factor. This episode of the Pen Act is brought to you by Factor. Warmer, sunnier days are calling. Fuel up for them with Factor's no prep, no mess meals. Meet your wellness goals in time for summer, thanks to the menu of chef-crafted meals with options like calorie smart, protein plus, and keto. 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