Stationery Shops—a Fantasy World
It's well known that Japanese girls love things that are kawaii. Not just clothes, but also the stationery goods they use every day at home and at school—pencil cases, erasers, rulers, glue—girls' bedrooms and school bags are packed full of cute stationery items.
Scissors and calculators with cute pop-art patterns (Cooperation: Delacute Inc.)
There is a vast array of such colorful stationery goods to be found in the office supply and general goods stores. There are notebooks and letter-writing sets with pictures of cartoon characters, and cute, pop-art-decorated calculators, staplers and scissors. You can even find items with added flavors, like soft erasers and pens that smell of fruit or chocolate. An eraser with a nail file on the cover is especially popular with fashion-conscious girls.
Pencils with pink, heart-shaped charms are very popular among young girls. (Cooperation: Delacute Inc.)
But the most popular and most widespread are the writing implements. Standing by the shop shelf, the first thing you will notice are the pencils with colorful patterns and sparkly hearts or cute character charms attached. "The charms swing when I write and look really cute," said one primary school girl. Pens and mechanical pencils with charms are also popular and make great presents for friends, too.
On the pen shelf there are so many different colors and types, it is almost impossible to choose. There is truly a vast array, especially in girls' favorite pink shades, and there are even metallic particle ink pens that write on metal, glass or plastic.
Pens with sparkly metallic ink (POSCA on the right) can transform photos. (Cooperation: Mitsubishi Pencil Co., Ltd.)