An Editorial of Japanese Stationery
The quiet instruments
of a careful day.
Bungu Daily is an English-language record of the Japanese stationery tradition — fountain pens, washi tape, notebooks, the small, well-made instruments that quietly outlast their owners. We translate the awards, walk the shelves of Loft and Tsutaya, and report what we find.
By Hand · Edited Quietly
Issue No. 一
Manifesto
No. 001
A pen is a small ceremony. A notebook is a long one. We document the people, presses, and paper mills behind both — translated faithfully, criticised honestly, photographed in the daylight they were made for.
Dispatches
What we are reading this week.
Editor's Choice · listicle
Top 9 Japanese Erasers Compared: Tombow MONO, Pentel Hi-Polymer, Pilot (2026)
Compared: 10 Japanese erasers from Tombow MONO to Seed Radar. Type, performance, price, and verdict for each.
Field Notes
listicle
Top 9 Japanese Washi Tape Brands Compared: MT, BGM, mizutama, Pion (2026)
Compared: 10 Japanese washi tape brands from mt to Maste. Width, theme, US availability, price, and verdict for each.
listicle
Top 10 Japanese Mechanical Pencils Compared: Pentel, Pilot, Uni Kuru Toga (2026)
Compared: 10 Japanese mechanical pencils from Pentel Graph Gear to Uni Kuru Toga. Lead size, hero feature, price, and verdict for each.
listicle
Top 9 Japanese Notebooks for Bullet Journaling Compared: Hobonichi, Midori, Stalogy (2026)
Compared: 10 Japanese notebooks for bullet journaling from Hobonichi to APICA. Paper brand, format, US price, and verdict for each.
The Atelier
Four small instruments, built quietly.
We build a tool only when a question deserves one. Each is drawn from the same translated sources — Bunbōguyasan Taishō rankings, Loft best-sellers, BUN2 reviews — and edited the way we'd edit prose.
Pen Compass
Five questions about your hand and your paper. We return three nibs that suit you, and one that doesn't.
Ink Library
Search 1,400 Japanese inks by colour, sheen, and shading. Every entry photographed on Tomoe River.
Notebook Decoder
Tomoe, MD, Hobonichi, Mnemosyne — translated and laid side by side.
Washi Atlas
Every washi-tape maker in Japan, mapped by region. With swatches.
The Reference Shelf
Forty years of Bunbōguyasan Taishō, ranked.
The Bunbōguyasan Taishō are Japan's annual stationery awards, voted on by 800 specialty-shop staff. We translate every winner since 1985 and re-test the available ones.
- 01
Sailor · Wajima, Ishikawa
Pro Gear Slim, Bungubox Sapporo edition
Bungu Score
9.4/ 10
- 02
Midori · Tokyo
MD Notebook, blank, A5
Bungu Score
9.2/ 10
- 03
Pilot · Hiratsuka
Iroshizuku Yama-budō ink
Bungu Score
9.1/ 10
- 04
Tombow · Niiza, Saitama
Mono 100 Pencil, 2B, dozen
Bungu Score
8.9/ 10
- 05
Kokuyo · Osaka
Campus Soft Ring B5, 80 sheets
Bungu Score
8.7/ 10
The Letter
A quiet Sunday letter,
once each week.
One translated dispatch, one ink swatch, one shop worth a detour. Written by hand, sent on Sundays, never longer than a postcard.