Japanese Stationery Magazines (and Giveaway!)

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I don’t remember how I first heard that there was such a thing as Japanese stationery magazines, and I’m not even sure if “magazine” is the right word for them. The first one I’d heard of was a series of numbered volumes called “Note and Diary Style Book.” I searched for them on Amazon Japan, and printed out the results. I brought it to the Kinokuniya Bookstore in Manhattan, which has a huge selection of Japanese books and magazines. The first time I went, the sales clerk said “Wow, we don’t carry these, but we really should!” Given Kinokuniya’s large stationery department, I quite agreed.

When I went back and asked again recently, I had better luck. The clerk said they did not have the exact ones listed on Amazon, but she showed me a few similar items, and I bought these ones. One of them seems to be a compilation of the best notebook, pen and stationery products of the year. The other one seems more like a magazine with feature pages on different stationery stores and pen manufacturers. They are sort of like catalogs, or perhaps trade journals for the Japanese stationery and pen industry. There are pages in the one with no English title that list various stationery stores. The MonoMax one seems more catalog-like, so I wondered if MonoMax might be a store, but from a little googling, it seems like it’s a magazine that covers various products. From browsing at Kinokuniya, I’ve noticed that there seem to be a lot of Japanese magazines that focus on fashion and accessories, sometimes a single product like backpacks, with just tons and tons of photos of various backpacks that are trendy in Japan. I can’t really think of any American equivalent that so single-mindedly hones in on a single product. We have some magazines with pretty specific topics for niche audiences, especially in terms of trade journals, but I don’t think we have any consumer magazines that just showcase backpacks! As for notebooks and pens, there is a magazine called Pen World, and trade journals called “Stationery” (may be defunct now as last issue I could find is over a year old) and “Stationery Trends,” but “Stationery Magazine” is Japanese.

Anyway, here’s some of the eye-candy from within these two publications. If anyone can read Japanese and can add more explanation, please do so in the comments! I will also give these two magazines away if anyone wants them. I’ll select two random winners from any comments on this post that express interest in the giveaway. The deadline to comment and enter is Friday July 10, 2015 at 11:59 Eastern time.

 

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12 thoughts on “Japanese Stationery Magazines (and Giveaway!)”

  1. Eye candy, no kidding. What tempting photos. Great detective work, unearthing as much as you have. Would very much enjoy having one of these, the images inspiring ideas for rubber stamps or just enjoying for themselves. Thanks.

  2. Fun magazines – would love to win one to send to a friend who is learning Japanese.

  3. Wow this is awesome! I was actually on the hunt for some sort of stationery supplies magazine in the US but all the ones I could find were full of craft or art supplies. These look awesome! I love seeing all the other kinds of notebooks and pens out there and it makes me want to travel to Japan just to go on a shopping spree. I’m also jealous you have a Kinokuniya near you! There isn’t anything like that here in Texas. Thank you for the great pictures and chance to win these awesome magazines! It is nice to see a glimpse into what all stationery supplies are out there in the world!

  4. Thank you for the opportunity to receive these magazines. I am surely interested.

  5. Wow, these magazines look so pretty! My sister is learning Japanese, so it might be a fun way to get in some more vocab. Thanks for the giveaway!

  6. I look at the Jetpens site pretty often, but they don’t have a lot of paper.

    Another thing I’ve been trying to find is some seventies era stationery that was like onion skin paper, but in pastels usually. They also did a grey. I think it was by Montag.

  7. I’ve known about these and I think they’re amazing but sadly I don’t know anybody who could help me place a subscription. Supposedly you can but I do not read or write Japanese. I think it’s so fantastic of you to search them out and even have such great assistance at your Kino!
    Thanks for publlicizing these a bit more.

  8. Oh man, I love these! As someone who is learning Japanese & currently brainstorming possibilities for a notebooking zine, I’d love to be considered for the giveaway.

    One of the (many) reasons on my list for “why learn japanese” is “so I can read japanese stationery books & notebookers.jp. website” :)

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