Apart from seeing the cherry blossoms and all the typical Japanese touristy things, my main reason for visiting Japan was to go stationery shopping!

Japanese Stationery Stores I Visited

• Part 1 – Sekaido, Stationery Station, Don Quijote, tag, mt lab and Seria
• Part 2 – Tokyo Hands
• Part 3 – Loft
• Part 4 – Itoya

Here’s a list of the stationery I bought in Japan

• mt washi tape (various washi tapes but mostly rainbow.. of course!)
• dot e pens
• MARU liner KOBARU
• cororo pens (for creating borders)
• Various sakura pens
• Frixion stamps
• Self inking stamps
• Uniball one pens
• Zebra clickart pens
• Zebra mildliner brush pens
• Index tabs
• Rainbow checklist to do washi tape

I was supposed to take this trip to Japan back in 2020 but was it cancelled due to covid. If I had gone back then I think my haul would’ve been much bigger as many brands such as Zebra Mildliners weren’t widely available in Australia back then. I still managed to find some unique stationery I can’t get in Australia.

mt washi tape

mt is the original washi tape created 100 years ago!

Here’s a peek at the mt store which I’ll tell you more about in another post on my favorite stationery shops in Japan (coming soon)

You can also find a small selection of mt tape in the Japanese department stores and some of the craft stores.

There were some solid color washi tape packs but no discounts if you purchased different quantities of individual washi tapes to create your own sets. The mt washi tape isn’t cheap so I was very selective and only picked my favorites. Even though the wall looks like there’s a lot of washi, the same design might appear 3 times on that wall. It certainly made my sets of acrylic drawers that I store my washi tape in look like a tiny collection!

Related post: My all time favorite washi tapes (and how I organize them)

If the length of tape is important, make sure you check before buying as each design has different lengths.

I also purchased the icco nico To Do rainbow checklist washi tape from Itoya Ginza (this was the only store where I saw this washi tape).

MARU liner KOBARU

I love dot markers so when I saw the MARU liners I didn’t hesitate to buy them! There are 20+ colors to choose from but I couldn’t find any packs bigger than just 2 markers.

These must be popular as they were almost entirely sold out in the few shops I found them in.

Related post: 7 Ways to use dot markers in your planner or bullet journal

dot e pens

Even better than the MARU liners (and more readily available), were the dot e pens. These were also available individually but I found them in packs of 3 as well.

There was a yellow and another shade of purple but I don’t need 2 purple and rarely use yellow so made my own collection:

Instead of circle like other dot marker brands, these are square – perfect for quickly making checklists.

These are dual tip markers – the other end is a fineliner pen.

This was my favorite stationery find in Japan – if you only buy one stationery item when you go – make it these!

Both the MARU markers and dot e pens bled through so make sure you place a sheet of paper (or 2) underneath the page to absorb the ink.

Testing the dot markers in one of my Plum Paper notebooks

Zebra Mildliner Brush pens

These aren’t new but they’ve been on my wish list for a while. I know the mildliners are popular for their muted colors but my favorites are the bright set which I have in the highlighters, so wanted to match them in the brush pen set.

If you’re like me and can’t do brush lettering, I like using brush pens for headings (e.g. write the days of the week, to do list etc. over the top in white pen) and underlining

Related post: 4 Similar (and cheaper) alternatives to the Zebra Mildliner Dual Tip Highlighters

Zebra Clickart

Despite looking like marker pens when the tip is out ready to use, these pens look like you’ve written with a normal pen tip. The ink definitely comes out looking thicker than 0.6mm.

These write so smoothly and the rainbow colours are very vibrant – even the yellow is actually legible!

I really like these pens and recommend them if you’re looking for a rainbow set!

Frixion Stamps

I have some Frixion stamps already – Officeworks sell them but only a limited range – I hadn’t seen this circle and x before. They’ll be great for making checklists. The circle was a bit more smudgy than my other Frixion stamps, but lots of shops annoyingly had the ink caps unsealed so it’s probably been tested by other people before I bought it.

The other stamps I found didn’t have a brand name on them but look very similar to the Frixion. Stumbling across 2 different checklist sizes was a good find!

Pens

Sakura pens are hard to find in Australia and are expensive to buy online so I picked up a few. They must be popular as most shops had 1 or 2 colors in the collection out of stock. Sakura pens are hit and miss for me. Some of them are too inky and smudgy for me, but others aren’t inky enough and can be a bitch scratchy to write with. All the ones I chose were nice, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to find them next time, I think there are better pens out there.

Related post: Pen Brands Comparison (and my favorite pens for each brand) 

I have a pack of the Zebra Sarasa Clip 0.5 and after trying the 0.7 which I found in Japan, I definitely prefer the 0.7 tip.

Unlike the Frixion pastel highlighters that are so washed out you may as well not use a highlighter, the Fixion light is an excellent choice if you don’t want a pastel highlighter but you don’t want neon either. There were only a few colors to choose from. I ended up choosing the green as it that’s very hard to find in non-neon and the shade is similar to the apple green colour in the Zebra mildliners.

Related post: 4 Similar (and cheaper) alternatives to the Zebra Mildliner Dual Tip Highlighters

I have Tombow Kei Coat and Uni propus highlighters already and wanted to pick up these variations to see if there is a difference. Spoiler: not really, they look and feel exactly the same as the original versions so don’t bother buying them if you have the original versions already.

The cororo are shaped like a pen but are actually a roller stamp – ideal for making borders. These were hard to find and only came in 3 – 4 colors (most were sold out too). I managed to find a dashed and wavy line version.

My second favorite pens from this haul were the Uniball One. They’re 0.5 but feel more like my favorite tip size (0.7). There is sero ink skipping and they write really smoothly. I only ever saw them individually but if there’s a pack of them with rainbow colors then I’d definitely buy it.

I thought there would be plenty of cute notebooks and planners but there weren’t many and those that were there, were very plain and boring.

Japanese Stationery Stores I Visited

Click the links below to see my thorough reviews of all of the stores I visited (there’s lots of stationery photos to look at!)

• Part 1 – Sekaido, Stationery Station, Don Quijote, tag, mt lab and Seria
• Part 2 – Tokyo Hands
• Part 3 – Loft
• Part 4 – Itoya

Past stationery hauls

• Favorite London Stationery shops for planner supplies
• Europe stationery haul!
• My 2nd Europe Stationery Haul!
• Favorite Places to Buy Planner Supplies in Australia 
• Favorite Switzerland stationery shops for planner addicts
• 5 Planner Supplies I Don’t Use (And Why)
• Favorite stationery shops in Paris
• My Favorite Stationery Shops in Rome
• Favorite Stationery Shops in Austria
• Favorite stationery shops in New Zealand
• Favorite Stationery Shops in Copenhagen, Denmark
• Favorite stationery shops in Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Favorite Stationery Shops in Germany
• Favorite stationery shops in Finland (Helsinki & Rovaniemi)
• Favorite Stationery Shops in Belgium (Brussels, Antwerp & Bruges)
• Planning on a budget: If I only had $50 to spend on planner supplies, this is what I’d buy
• Stationery shopping in the USA

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