Image Description: A banner-image of a sword, presented diagonally, with the hilt of the blade in the lower-left corner and the tip of the blade in the upper-right corner. In the upper-left corner is pink text reading “Stationery” and in the lower-right corner is pink text reading “Quest”.
At the beginning of December, my sister and I travelled overseas to Japan for a week, mostly staying in Nagoya and Takayama. Before I went, I watched this video by Amanda Rach Lee, here’s a link to it:
In the comments section from a previous video, Amanda receives recommendations for stationery stores, the ones she visits while in Japan are Tokyu Hands (Ginza and Shibuya location) and Itoya (Ginza location).
Before leaving for Japan, I checked the Tokyu Hands website and, as it turns out, there is a Tokyu Hands store at the Nagoya Train Station we would be stopping at. I was hoping that, during our trip, we would have some time to visit the store and check it out. Unfortunately, it didn’t really fit into the travel schedule, and I was unable to go.
Instead, I managed to visit Daiso (my favourite store) in Takayama, and I also visited a stationery store named Tsutaya at the Chubu International Airport on the way back. Behold!
Items I Obtained from Daiso:
Image Description: a plastic figurine of a white and red Maneki-Neko. The Maneki-Neko sits on a red cushion of plastic, with a red sack of gold at its feet, and large gold coin in its other hand.
I’ve always loved Maneki-Neko orientated items. Once my desk has reassembled, and I have my study/office set up, I shall have this item between my purple lotus-flower and my purple dragon.
Image Description: a 16mm by 3m roll of Washi tape. The design on this tape is a pink background with a repeating pattern of akabeko in a green coat (I think), red koi fish, and two Maneki-Nekos. The pattern then repeats.
Unfortunately, my beloved Catsby passed away this year, and I don’t think I can endure having another pet in my life (it’s just too painful). So, you can expect more cat-themed stationery items and stickers to be appearing in my blog-posts regarding my Bullet Journal and personal journals.
Image Description: a 17mm by 3m roll of Washi tape. The design on this tape is a repeating pattern of light-pink sakura flowers with gold outline, dark-pink sakura flowers, and gold sakura flowers.
Image Description: a 19 mm by 3m roll of Washi tape. The design on this tape is a repeating pattern of red, pink, white, gold sakura flowers.
I figured as I was in Japan I should get some Washi tape with sakura flowers on them. I like the designs and the usage of colour in combination with the gold. I’m normally more of silver person but I like these.
Image Description: The background of the photo is black with rows of white threads sown through it. The foreground of the photo focuses on an item, the item is a correctional tape made out of pink plastic in the shape of a rabbit.
I grabbed this because I was running low on correction tape and I like pink items. There’s not much more to it than that.
Items I Obtained from Tsutaya:
Image Description: a ten-pack of Pilot Frixion Ball Knock pens in a rainbow spectrum of colours.
Image Description: a white and blue pen with gold coloured snowflakes. The white section has a picture of Elsa from Frozen and her name in blue underneath the picture. At the top of the pen are a large light-blue star and small dark-blue star.
I’m not sure if this is just because this store was at the Chubu International Airport, however, the Tsutaya store I visited has a huge range of Disney stationery items. They are super cute. While Belle is one of my favourite Disney Princesses, most of the merchandise orientated with Belle is yellow-themed, and unfortunately, I’m not a big fan of yellow. Elsa, on the other hand, has a pretty good selection of blue-themed items. All Hail The Snow Queen :D.
Image Description: a top view of a roll of Washi tape. The roll is a continuous pattern of strawberries followed by kiwi fruit halves.
Image Description: a side view of a roll of Washi tape. The roll is a continuous pattern of strawberries and strawberry halves, followed by kiwi fruit halves.
My blog has a bit of Strawberry theme, so I figured I should nab this small roll while I could, isn’t it cute?
Image Description: a top view of a roll of Washi tape from Tsutaya. The brand is Kimono and it’s a mixture of purple and pink ume flowers (plum flowers) with touches of gold.
Image Description: a side view of a roll of Washi tape. The brand is Kimono and it’s a mixture of purple and pink ume flowers (plum flowers) with touches of gold.
This tape is super pretty, I love the shades of pink and purple, and the small touches of gold pollen just nails it. A simple but effective design where all the separate elements come together nicely.
At this point in time, I already have plenty of notebooks, so I resisted the temptation to buy more. My main focus was on Washi Tape and Decorative Stamps. Currently, my Bullet Journal designs tend to minimalistic, and I was hoping to use more Washi tape this year for decoration. I’ll test the tapes I obtained in my personal journal before I put them in my Bullet Journal.
I’m also looking into the possibility of stamps, however, as my partner and are currently in the middle of renovating our house, I am reluctant to start collecting items that are possibly expensive, messy, and easy to lose. I’m finding it difficult to find items inside the house as it is.
So, my dear readers, what did you think of the items I obtained? Have you ever been to Japan? What was or is your favourite item of Japanese Stationery? Let me know down in the comment section below.
Ambiguous Pieces 