Editing The Pen Addict 739/transcript (section)

== 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?