Japan is often referred to as a stationery powerhouse, and it is true that most new stationery items invented since the 2000s have come from Japan. The first of these was the erasable ballpoint pen, the Frixion, which was followed by the ultra-low-viscosity Jetstream ballpoint pen.

Japanese stationery is highly regarded for its quality, functionality, design, and playfulness. This is especially notable since writing instruments incorporating this state-of-the-art technology can be purchased for as little as a few hundred yen. Other cultures may wonder at the Japanese approach to constantly improving goods, even those that seem to have peaked, by continuing to eliminate the slightest inconveniences to the user.

A Country of Stationery, A Country of Paper

When thinking about the relationship between Japanese people and stationery, it is important to remember that, since ancient times, the Japanese have had a strong attachment to paper. Today's method of making paper from broken-down plant fibers was invented in China around the 2nd century B.C. and introduced to Japan around the 7th century. It only found its way to Europe via the Silk Road around the 13th century, which means that, when it comes to paper, Japan is an early adopter.

About 70% of Japan is forested, and there are many rivers as well, so the plants and water used to make paper are abundant here. This is why paper has been used not only for writing, but also for crafts, interior goods, and clothing. Handmade washi paper was produced throughout Japan, and already in the 8th century there were discussions about which regional paper was best suited for which applications. The Shosoin Repository¹ preserves washi from that time, and it is said that the empress chose her color of washi from the selection here. For 1,300 years, the Japanese have been carefully selecting their favorite sheets of writing paper.

In countries without abundant paper resources, the act of “putting pen to paper” was long considered a privilege of the nobility, showing just how precious paper was at the time. When paper first came into use in Japan, too, it was of course used almost exclusively by the privileged classes, such as court nobles and shogunate officials, but it spread relatively quickly to the common folk. During the Edo period (1603–1868), karuta playing cards, ukiyo-e paintings of everyday life, kawaraban broadsheets, chiyogami sheets of handprinted paper became popular. Paper, pictures, and characters were widely used in entertainment for the ordinary public. It was around this time that stationery came to be valued as a tool for everyone. In the 19th century, fountain pens, ink, machine-made paper and other elements of Western stationery met the Japanese world of ink, brushes, and washi. The Japanese adopted the Western tools, introducing improvements as they did.

Today, paper expos are held throughout Japan. These stationery-focused trade shows draw huge crowds, with the December 2023 Bungu Joshi Haku Stationery Festival alone attracting 45,000 people. In Japan, a symbiotic relationship has developed between the stationery manufacturers who release new products every year and the consumers who enjoy and appreciate the evolution in ever-more delicate writing and comfortable usability.

Putting Thoughts into Words

In an age of ubiquitous smartphones and a world that is increasingly paperless, why do Japanese people love stationery so much? One reason could be the Japanese penchant for using the written word to capture emotions. Handwritten letters reveal an individual’s personality and hint at whether they were crafted with care or dashed off in haste. The Japanese writing system combines three types of characters—kanji, hiragana, and katakana—often all within the same sentence. This offers an unusual tool for expressing changes in nuance simply by choosing between these three ways of writing any given word.

The Japanese people’s attachment to stationery items and the insatiable quest of engineers to improve these tools have been passed down for many generations. It is this dedication that forms the foundation for the evolution of Japanese stationery.