Kinokuniya

Kinokuniya is a Japanese book, magazine, and pen/notebook/paper and supply store on The Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenue) between 40th and 41st Streets. A large store with two levels and sitting twenty-one blocks due north from my other favorite Japanese-products store, Muji, Kinokuniya stocks everything you could imagine for reading and writing and more. My first visit to the store there was a demonstration on how to make Tatami sandals, with people invited to bring their own sandals in for a tune up. I've purchased some really great vinyl journals and paper from Kinokuniya in the past, and really enjoy looking around the downstairs area.

On a recent trip I decided to take a better look at the pen section, which had overwhelmed me in the past. In taking my time I was really pleased to spot the small labels telling me the name and price of each pen, as well as finding the sample pens to try out. And I recognized some pens from JetPens or reviewed on The Pen Addict that I had wanted to see up close, and so got a chance to play with them. In particular, I tried the Pilot Hi-Tec C pens, and chose three of the 0.5mm for my collection: Blue/Black, a really deep shade I liked a lot; Violet; and Bengara, which is a soft brown with a hint of pink or red to it. The 0.5mm were very close in feel to the 0.4mm, but the former had a bit more slip to it on the paper and felt just a little looser and sloppier. The 0.3mm and 0.25mm both felt scratchy and tight, and I didn't like how they resisted the paper.

I purchased many more pens and will post on these later, as well as two notebooks from Apica that I liked. The two pics above, which I managed to snap without disturbing anyone, show the pen display from a distance and a side view of one-half of the notebook/paper section.