2020 was the year of online events, glass pens, pocket pens, e-commerce, and pastel-colored chromo-shading inks.

Japan’s biggest pen club commissioned a turquoise Platinum 3776, based on the standard Nice model, in 2018. It sold out fast.

Fenestro is Fine Writing International’s latest model: An acrylic, eyedropper-friendly cartridge-converter pen with an ink window and spring-loaded cap.

Sailor’s Theta pens, released in 1996, were inspired by a spiritual concept called hado. The nibs were said to be treated by a hado specialist and purportedly had mysterious health benefits.

Eureka Dodecagon aka-tamenuri is a handmade ebonite pen with urushi lacquer, custom ebonite feed, and Argentium silver nib, all created by a one-man pen maker in South Korea.

Platinum’s Little Shooting Star (小流星钢笔) is a low-cost pen that looks like a Pilot Kakuno. It was released in July 2019 and is currently available in China only.

PenBBS 500 is a new release from popular Chinese pen maker PenBBS, with an all-new filling system that combines elements from TWSBI’s Go and Conid’s bulk fillers.

Major trends in Japan this year: Brands, events, and more. One new ink maker made a big splash. This post is part of a collaborative year-end summary by our Tokyo pen group.

Tokyo International Pen Show (TIPS) and pen club Wagner’s autumn event, in one weekend!

All sought-after store-exclusive Sailor inks, normally only sold in remote brick-and-mortar stores, finally available in Tokyo, for two days.