--- title: "How Japan Became the World's Stationery Capital" canonical: "https://stationerytimes.com/guides/japan-stationery-culture/" description: "How Japan's pen and pencil makers grew from 1887 to today: founding dates, the gel pen, Hobonichi and mt washi tape, 2025 export figures and who owns whom now." category: "Stories" published: 2026-10-21 updated: 2026-10-21 author: "Ellis Penhale" publisher: "Stationery Times" sources: 28 organizations: - name: "Mitsubishi Pencil Co., Ltd." country: "Japan" founded: "1887" brands: ["uni-ball", "uni"] source: "https://www.mpuni.co.jp/company/history.html" - name: "Zebra Co., Ltd." country: "Japan" founded: "1897" brands: ["Zebra"] source: "https://www.zebra.co.jp/corp/history/" - name: "KOKUYO Co., Ltd." country: "Japan" founded: "1905" brands: ["KOKUYO"] source: "https://www.kokuyo.com/about/history/" - name: "The Sailor Pen Co., Ltd." country: "Japan" founded: "1911-02-11" parent: "PLUS Corporation" parent_since: "2022-05-23" brands: ["Sailor"] source: "https://sailor.co.jp/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/第113期-有価証券報告書.pdf" - name: "Tombow Pencil Co., Ltd." country: "Japan" founded: "1913" brands: ["Tombow"] source: "https://www.tombow.com/corporate/about/history/" - name: "Pilot Corporation" country: "Japan" founded: "1918" brands: ["Pilot", "Namiki"] source: "https://corp.pilot.co.jp/company/history/" - name: "Platinum Pen Co., Ltd." country: "Japan" founded: "1919-02" brands: ["Platinum"] source: "https://www.platinum-pen.co.jp/overview/" - name: "Sakura Color Products Corporation" country: "Japan" founded: "1921-05-29" brands: ["Sakura"] source: "https://www.craypas.co.jp/company/history/" - name: "Kamoi Kakoshi Co., Ltd." country: "Japan" founded: "1923" brands: ["mt"] source: "https://www.kamoi-net.co.jp/company/history.html" - name: "ASTRUM Corporation" country: "Japan" founded: "1946-03" parent: "PLUS Corporation" parent_since: "2022-11" brands: ["Pentel"] source: "https://www.plus.co.jp/data/corporate_history/" - name: "PLUS Corporation" country: "Japan" founded: "1948-02" source: "https://www.plus.co.jp/data/corporate_history/" - name: "Hobonichi Co., Ltd." country: "Japan" founded: "1979-12-24" brands: ["Hobonichi"] source: "https://www.hobonichi.co.jp/company/about.html" --- # How Japan Became the World's Stationery Capital > No official ranking names a stationery capital, but Japan has a strong case. Its big makers date from 1887 to 1946, they introduced the gel-ink ballpoint (Sakura, 1984) and the capless fountain pen (Pilot, 1963), and in 2025 Japan exported 120.4 billion yen (about US$762 million) of writing instruments while importing about a fifth of that. - URL: https://stationerytimes.com/guides/japan-stationery-culture/ - Category: Stories - Author: Ellis Penhale - Published: 2026-10-21 - Updated: 2026-10-21 ![A skyline of eleven Japanese stationery makers drawn as pencils, pens, a notebook, a planner and a washi tape strip, from Mitsubishi Pencil (1887) to Hobonichi (1979), each as tall as the company is old](https://stationerytimes.com/images/raster/japan-stationery-culture-16x9.png) *Japan's stationery makers by founding year, from Mitsubishi Pencil in 1887 to Hobonichi in 1979. Height is proportional to years since founding.* Original drawing (SVG): https://stationerytimes.com/images/japan-stationery-culture-cover.svg. Drawings © 2026 Stationery Times, reusable with credit under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ## Key takeaways - Eight of today's big makers were founded between 1887 and 1921: Mitsubishi Pencil (1887), Zebra (1897), KOKUYO (1905), Sailor (1911), Tombow (1913), Pilot (1918), Platinum (1919) and Sakura (1921). - In 2025 Japan exported 120.4 billion yen (about US$762 million) of writing instruments and imported 24.3 billion yen (about US$154 million), per JWIMA's summary of Japan's trade statistics. - Japanese factories made 1.55 billion ballpoint pens in 2025, 1.26 billion of them water-based (gel and rollerball), and exported about 1 billion ballpoints. - Sakura says its Ball Sign of 1984 was the world's first water-based gel-ink ballpoint; Pilot's G-2 followed in 1997 and Zebra's Sarasa in 2000. - Ownership is consolidating: PLUS took control of Sailor on May 23, 2022 and of Pentel in November 2022, Pentel's company became ASTRUM Corporation on April 1, 2026, and Mitsubishi Pencil bought LAMY on March 15, 2024. ## How did Japan become the world's stationery capital? **Japan earned the label through a century of specialized makers, a run of new pen types and a trade surplus, not through any official ranking.** Most of today's big makers began between 1887 and 1921 as single-product workshops: pencils, steel nibs, gold nibs, ledger covers or crayons. After the war they added ballpoints, markers and gel pens, and today they export far more than Japan imports. The numbers behind the reputation come from the Japan Writing Instruments Manufacturers Association (JWIMA, 日本筆記具工業会), which compiles METI's production statistics and Japan's trade statistics. In 2025 Japanese factories made 1.55 billion ballpoint pens, and the country exported 120.4 billion yen (about US$762 million) of writing instruments while importing 24.3 billion yen (about US$154 million). "Capital" is a figure of speech, so treat it as a description, not a measured title. | Year | What happened | Source | |---|---|---| | 1887 | Niroku Masaki founds the Masaki Pencil Works in Tokyo, later Mitsubishi Pencil | Mitsubishi Pencil | | 1897 | Tokumatsu Ishikawa makes Japan's first domestic steel pen nib, the start of Zebra | Zebra | | 1904 | Katsutaro Ito opens Itoya, a stationery shop, in Ginza 3-chome | Itoya | | 1905 | Zentaro Kuroda opens a shop making ledger covers in Osaka, the start of KOKUYO | KOKUYO | | 1911 | Kugoro Sakata starts making fountain pens with 14K nibs in Kure (February) | Sailor | | 1913 | Harunosuke Ogawa opens his pencil shop in Asakusa, the start of Tombow | Tombow | | 1916 | Ryosuke Namiki completes Japan's first domestic 14K fountain-pen nib | Pilot | | 1918 | Namiki and Masao Wada found Namiki Manufacturing, today's Pilot | Pilot | | 1919 | Platinum is founded (February) | Platinum | | 1921 | Sakura Color Products is founded in Osaka (May 29) | Sakura | | 1946 | Pentel's company is established (March) | ASTRUM | | 1963 | Pilot's Capless fountain pen; Tombow's MONO pencil; Pentel's Sign Pen | Pilot, Tombow, Pentel | | 1984 | Sakura's Ball Sign, which it calls the first water-based gel-ink ballpoint | Sakura | | 2001 | First Hobonichi Techo goes on sale (October 5) | Hobonichi | | 2008 | Kamoi Kakoshi launches mt washi tape (March) | Kamoi Kakoshi | | 2022 | PLUS takes control of Sailor (May 23) and Pentel (November) | Sailor, PLUS | | 2024 | Mitsubishi Pencil buys 100% of LAMY (March 15) | Mitsubishi Pencil | | 2026 | Pentel's company is renamed ASTRUM Corporation (April 1) | ASTRUM | ## When did the big Japanese stationery makers start? **Eight of them began within 34 years, from Mitsubishi Pencil in 1887 to Sakura in 1921.** Each started with one product. Mitsubishi Pencil supplied the first domestic pencils to the Ministry of Communications in 1901 and registered its three-diamond brand in 1903; Tombow's founder stamped "H.O. Pencil" on his first pencils in 1913. Zebra's founder made steel dip-pen nibs from 1897 and adopted the zebra mark in 1914. KOKUYO began in 1905 making covers for Japanese-style ledgers, moved into Western-style account books in 1913, and took the KOKUYO name in 1961; its [Campus notebook](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/kokuyo-campus-notebook/) followed in 1975. Sakura began in 1921 as a crayon maker and registered the Cray-Pas oil-pastel trademark in 1925. Pentel, the youngest of the group, was established in March 1946, and its [Sign Pen](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/pentel-sign-pen/) dates from 1963. ## Who made Japan's first fountain pens? **Sailor and Pilot both claim a first, and their claims are about different things.** Sailor's history says that in February 1911 Kugoro Sakata began making Japan's first domestic fountain pens, with 14K nibs, in Kure, Hiroshima. Pilot's history says Ryosuke Namiki completed the first purely domestic 14K fountain-pen nib in 1916 and founded Namiki Manufacturing, today's Pilot, in 1918. Read side by side, Sailor's claim is the earlier pen and Pilot's is a fully domestic nib; we found no neutral source that settles it. Platinum, founded in February 1919, completes the trio that still makes gold nibs in Japan. Sailor's 2025 annual report calls its 21-karat nib the only one in the world, which is the company's own claim. Pilot opened offices in New York, London, Shanghai and Singapore in 1926 and exported maki-e lacquer pens. In 1963 it launched the Capless, which it calls the world's first fountain pen without a cap and which lives on as the [Vanishing Point](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/pilot-vanishing-point/). ## Did Japan invent the gel pen? **Sakura Color Products says it did: its Ball Sign of 1984 was the world's first water-based gel-ink ballpoint.** Sakura's history adds that the Ball Sign ink patent won the Japan Patent Office Commissioner's Prize in the national invention awards in 2000. Sakura's US gel pen, the [Gelly Roll](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/sakura-gelly-roll/), comes from the same ink family. The rest of the industry followed. Zebra launched its Gel-B water-based pigment gel pen in 1992, Pilot's history lists the 0.3 mm Hi-Tec-C in 1994 and the retractable [G-2](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/pilot-g2/) in 1997, and Zebra's Sarasa arrived in 2000. Pilot's FriXion Ball, which erases by friction, followed in 2006, and Mitsubishi Pencil's low-viscosity Jetstream oil-based ballpoint, now the [Jetstream RT](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/uni-ball-jetstream-rt/) in the US, in 2006. Pencils were reinvented too. Tombow launched the MONO drafting pencil in August 1963 and the top-grade [MONO 100](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/tombow-mono-100/) in September 1967, whose free sample eraser became the MONO eraser in 1969. ## How big is Japan's pen industry today? **JWIMA counts 157.4 billion yen (about US$996 million) of domestic writing-instrument sales in 2025, and 120.4 billion yen (about US$762 million) of exports.** Production fell in 2025: ballpoints by 0.5% and marking pens by 13.8%, according to JWIMA's table from METI data. | 2025 figure | Amount | Change on 2024 | |---|---|---| | Ballpoint pens made | 1.55 billion | -0.5% | | of which water-based (gel, rollerball) | 1.26 billion | +0.6% | | Marking pens made | 663 million | -13.8% | | Mechanical pencils made | 111 million | -5.7% | | Ballpoint pens exported | 1.01 billion, 59.9 billion yen (about US$379 million) | -2.9% (value) | | All writing-instrument exports | 120.4 billion yen (about US$762 million) | -5.9% | | All writing-instrument imports | 24.3 billion yen (about US$154 million) | -0.3% | The United States is the biggest export market: 28.6 billion yen (about US$181 million) in 2025, ahead of China at 24.7 billion yen (about US$156 million) and France at 14.6 billion yen (about US$92 million). Fountain and drafting pens are a small slice, 4.5 billion yen (about US$28 million) of exports. ## Where do stationery fans shop and meet in Japan? **Ginza Itoya, opened in 1904, is the best-known shop, and the trade meets at the ISOT fair.** Itoya's history says Katsutaro Ito opened a stationery shop for "Japanese, Chinese and Western" goods in Ginza 3-chome in 1904. The store closed in 1944 for lack of goods, reopened in 1946, and opened its current main building, G.Itoya, in 2015. ISOT, the International Stationery & Office Products Fair Tokyo, run by RX Japan, hosts the Japan Stationery Award (日本文具大賞), which picks winners for function and for design. ISOT's own award page would not load from our network, so we rely on maker records for details: Sailor says its STORiA pigment ink won a design-division prize at the 24th award in August 2015. ## How did Hobonichi and mt washi tape become hits? **Both came from outsiders to the industry, a website and a flypaper maker.** Hobonichi, a company founded on December 24, 1979 as copywriter Shigesato Itoi's office, put its first [Hobonichi Techo](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/hobonichi-techo-original/) on sale on October 5, 2001. That first 2002 edition ran to 12,000 copies, sold only through its own store; by September 2023 cumulative sales had passed 10 million. Kamoi Kakoshi of Kurashiki, Okayama, was founded in 1923 to make flypaper and has made paper adhesive tape since 1961. Its history says it unveiled [mt washi tape](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/mt-washi-tape/) for stationery and crafts at the Gift Show in February 2008, began selling it in March 2008 and won a Good Design Award that year. ## Who owns the big Japanese stationery brands now? **Most are still independent, but PLUS Corporation now controls Sailor and Pentel, and Mitsubishi Pencil owns LAMY.** Pilot, Mitsubishi Pencil, KOKUYO, Hobonichi and Sailor are listed in Tokyo; Tombow, Zebra, Platinum and Sakura are privately held. PLUS, a privately held Tokyo office-supplies group, signed a capital alliance with Sailor in April 2018 and became its parent on May 23, 2022, according to Sailor's annual securities report; it held 57.88% of the voting rights at the end of 2025. In September 2022, PLUS agreed to buy KOKUYO's 45.6% stake in Pentel, lifting its group holding to 76.32%; PLUS's history dates Pentel's status as a subsidiary to November 2022. On April 1, 2026, Pentel Co., Ltd. renamed itself ASTRUM Corporation as the base for merging PLUS's stationery businesses by 2028. ASTRUM says Pentel stays the brand worldwide and Sailor stays a separately listed company. Mitsubishi Pencil took 100% of Heidelberg's LAMY on March 15, 2024; [our LAMY story](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/lamy-mitsubishi-pencil/) has the details, and our [best Japanese pens](https://stationerytimes.com/guides/best-japanese-pens/) roundup covers the pens themselves. ## What couldn't we verify? **We could not confirm any ranking that calls Japan the world's largest stationery maker, so we don't claim it.** We found no primary source that compares countries' pen output, so the figures above describe Japan alone. We could not read ISOT's or the Japan Stationery Award's own pages, so we give no founding year or winners list for either. KOKUYO's day-level founding date appears only in its annual securities report, which we could not parse, so we give the year alone. ## Frequently asked questions ### Why is Japanese stationery so good? There is no single measure, but the makers are old and specialized: Mitsubishi Pencil dates from 1887, and Sailor, Pilot and Platinum have made gold fountain-pen nibs since the 1910s. They also keep introducing new pen types, from the capless fountain pen in 1963 to gel ink in 1984 and erasable gel ink in 2006. ### Who invented the gel pen? Sakura Color Products says its Ball Sign, launched in 1984, was the world's first water-based gel-ink ballpoint, and its ink patent won a national invention award in 2000. Pilot's G-2 followed in 1997 and Zebra's Sarasa in 2000. ### What is the oldest Japanese stationery company? Among today's big makers, Mitsubishi Pencil is the oldest: Niroku Masaki founded the Masaki Pencil Works in Tokyo in 1887. Zebra followed in 1897, when its founder made Japan's first domestic steel pen nib. ### Who owns Pentel now? PLUS Corporation, a privately held Tokyo office-supplies group, made Pentel a subsidiary in November 2022 after buying KOKUYO's 45.6% stake. On April 1, 2026 the company renamed itself ASTRUM Corporation; Pentel stays the brand name worldwide. ### Who owns Sailor pens? PLUS Corporation has owned a majority of The Sailor Pen Co., Ltd. since May 23, 2022, and held 57.88% of the voting rights at the end of 2025. Sailor itself is still listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Standard market. ### When did the Hobonichi Techo start? The first Hobonichi Techo, the 2002 edition, went on sale on October 5, 2001, with a print run of 12,000 copies sold only through Hobonichi's own store. Hobonichi says cumulative sales passed 10 million copies in September 2023. ### When was mt washi tape launched? Kamoi Kakoshi, an Okayama maker of industrial masking tape, unveiled mt for stationery and crafts at the Gift Show in February 2008 and started selling it in March 2008. It won a Good Design Award the same year. ### When did Ginza Itoya open? Itoya's history says Katsutaro Ito opened the shop in Ginza 3-chome, Tokyo, in 1904. It closed in 1944 for lack of goods, reopened in 1946, and opened its current main building, G.Itoya, in 2015. ## Sources - [Pilot Corporation (Japan): 歴史・沿革 (1916 14K nib, 1918 Namiki Manufacturing, 1963 Capless, 1994 Hi-Tec-C, 1997 G-2, 2006 FriXion)](https://corp.pilot.co.jp/company/history/) - [The Sailor Pen Co. (Japan): 沿革 (February 1911 first domestic 14K-nib fountain pens in Kure; 2015 STORiA and the 24th Japan Stationery Award)](https://sailor.co.jp/company/history/) - [The Sailor Pen Co.: 会社概要 (founded February 11, 1911; incorporated August 14, 1932)](https://sailor.co.jp/company/company-outline/) - [The Sailor Pen Co.: 第113期 有価証券報告書 (annual securities report; PLUS became parent on May 23, 2022)](https://sailor.co.jp/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/第113期-有価証券報告書.pdf) - [The Sailor Pen Co.: 非上場の親会社等の決算情報に関するお知らせ, March 31, 2026 (PLUS holds 57.88% of voting rights)](https://sailor.co.jp/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/★【20260331提出】非上場の親会社等の決算情報に関するお知らせ.pdf) - [Platinum Pen Co.: 会社概要 (founded February 1919; incorporated November 9, 1942)](https://www.platinum-pen.co.jp/overview/) - [ASTRUM Corporation: 企業情報 (renamed from Pentel Co., Ltd. on April 1, 2026; founded March 1946; PLUS group; Pentel remains the brand)](https://www.astrum-st.com/company/) - [PLUS Corporation: 沿革・年代別トピックス (founded 1948; Sailor a subsidiary May 2022, Pentel November 2022)](https://www.plus.co.jp/data/corporate_history/) - [PLUS Corporation, September 2022: コクヨ株式会社保有のぺんてる株式会社株式の譲受に関するお知らせ (45.6% stake; 76.32% after the deal)](https://www.plus.co.jp/news/202209/004689/) - [Pentel, September 30, 2022: 当社株主変更に関するお知らせ](https://www.pentel.co.jp/news/20220930/) - [Tombow Pencil (Japan): 沿革 (1913 founding, 1963 MONO, 1967 MONO 100, 1969 MONO eraser)](https://www.tombow.com/corporate/about/history/) - [Mitsubishi Pencil (Japan): 三菱鉛筆のあゆみ (1887 founding, 1903 three-diamond brand, 1952 name, 1958 uni, 2024 LAMY)](https://www.mpuni.co.jp/company/history.html) - [Mitsubishi Pencil, February 29, 2024: C. Josef Lamy GmbHの持分の取得（連結子会社化）に関するお知らせ](https://www.mpuni.co.jp/company/press/20240229-53404.html) - [Mitsubishi Pencil: 半期報告書 for January–June 2024 (LAMY acquired March 15, 2024, 100% of voting rights)](https://www.mpuni.co.jp/news/images/news/20240802hanki.pdf) - [Zebra Co. (Japan): 沿革 (1897 first domestic steel nib, 1914 zebra mark, 1963 company name, 2000 Sarasa)](https://www.zebra.co.jp/corp/history/) - [KOKUYO: 価値観と歴史 (1905 Kuroda bookbinding-cover shop, 1961 KOKUYO name, 1975 Campus notebook)](https://www.kokuyo.com/about/history/) - [Sakura Color Products (Japan): 沿革 (founded 1921, Cray-Pas 1925, Pigma 1982, Ball Sign 1984, Royal Talens 1991)](https://www.craypas.co.jp/company/history/) - [Sakura Color Products: 会社概要 (founded May 29, 1921)](https://www.craypas.co.jp/company/outline/) - [Kamoi Kakoshi: 沿革・ヒストリー (1923 founding; mt shown at the Gift Show February 2008, on sale March 2008)](https://www.kamoi-net.co.jp/company/history.html) - [Hobonichi: ほぼ日手帳、これまでのあゆみ (first edition on sale October 5, 2001; 12,000 copies)](https://www.1101.com/store/techo/ja/2022/pc/about/history.html) - [Hobonichi: 会社概要 (founded December 24, 1979)](https://www.hobonichi.co.jp/company/about.html) - [Hobonichi recruitment page, 2023 (cumulative Techo sales passed 10 million in September 2023)](https://www.1101.com/recruitment/20231227/index.html) - [Ginza Itoya: Itoya's Story, history (1904 founding in Ginza 3-chome; 2015 G.Itoya)](https://www.ito-ya.co.jp/story/history.html) - [JWIMA (Japan Writing Instruments Manufacturers Association): 2025年筆記具類の生産・販売状況 (from METI's textile and daily-goods production statistics)](https://www.jwima.org/assets/statistics/toukei_siryo01.pdf) - [JWIMA: 2025年筆記具類の輸出状況 (Japan trade statistics)](https://www.jwima.org/assets/statistics/toukei_siryo05.pdf) - [JWIMA: 筆記具類の主要国別輸出金額 2022–2025](https://www.jwima.org/assets/statistics/toukei_siryo07.pdf) - [JWIMA: 2025年筆記具類の輸入状況](https://www.jwima.org/assets/statistics/toukei_siryo17.pdf) - [ISOT: 日本文具大賞とは (award page; could not be loaded in full from our network)](https://www.isot.jp/ja-jp/award/about.html)