Post-Travel Follow-up, Part 1: Shopping in Tokyo

Sekaido -- the stationery and art supply
geek's mecca!

Initially I had planned to talk about the art supply shopping I did in Tokyo in my sketch-kit follow-up post (up next), but since I had given Paris shopping a whole post of its own, I thought Tokyo deserved the same attention.

If you are ever in Tokyo, there’s no question that the one store you can’t miss is Sekaido. A multi-floor discount store devoted to art, craft and hobby supplies, it is a pen and stationery geek’s mecca. Sekaido sells most of the high quality, innovative or simply cute Japanese products you see on Amazon.com or JetPens.com – except without the steep markup. (In fact, all products are nicely discounted and would have been even further discounted if I’d opted to join its loyalty club. I’m sure if I lived in Tokyo, I would be a card-carrying member!)

Despite the size of my shopping bag in the photo, I actually restrained myself during our trip to Sekaido (I had other plans for unrestrained buying . . . stay tuned!) – mostly just a few gel pens and brush pens. One of my most exciting purchases turned out to be a Faber-Castell 9000 pencil sharpener, not because I can’t get it anywhere else (it’s easily available on Pencils.com, Amazon and elsewhere) or because it was discounted; it’s because Sekaido was very accommodating in allowing me to use a sample to try sharpening all of the pencils in my bag, including my favorite, hard-to-fit Caran d’Ache Museum pencils, to make sure it would work on them. You can’t beat that Japanese customer service!

Kutsuwa Dr. Ion accessory case: All my sketch tools stand upright and fully
accessible in my bag.

Even more exciting was finding a Kutsuwa Dr. Ion accessory organizer designed to stand upright inside a bag (it’s about 6.5" W x 7" H x 2" D) – allowing full, easy access to all pens, pencils, brushes and other sketching implements without adding bulk. (Although JetPens.com offers several Dr. Ion cases, I don’t see the specific style I found at Sekaido.) It came with a crossover-length clip-on strap, which would turn the organizer into a very functional “quiver” bag (if I ever explore the quiver concept again, which I adore in theory but couldn’t quite get to work for me in practice, this bag would be absolutely ideal).

Dr. Ion top view

All my sketch materials fit in this organizer, and the whole thing fits very tidily into my Rickshaw Zero messenger bag. It allows me to remove the multiple makeshift dividers I had been using to keep everything upright. Having all my implements standing vertically is a mission-critical organizational structure for my sketch bag – I can’t tolerate having to unzip and open internal bags or pockets, or having them all fall down into a horizontal heap at the bottom. Normally I would wait to get back home before reorganizing my sketch bag, but I got so excited about the Dr. Ion that I reorganized during some downtime in Kyoto. For the rest of the trip, my bag was – and remains – fully convenient and tidy!  

My new waterproof Rickshaw Bagworks Zero messenger bag with the Dr. Ion
accessory case in place.

The last purchase I’m going to mention was made while I was in Japan but is not from Japan – it’s from San Francisco. I got a new Rickshaw Bagworks Zero messenger bag just like the trusty purple one that has been with me on four continents – except the new one is made of waterproof fabric! I was in Kyoto the day after my bag (and everything else on me) had gotten drenched in Hikone’s continual downpour when I received a 50% discount coupon from Rickshaw – such timing! The old Rickshaw’s

My new waterproof
Rickshaw

Cordura Nylon lining had kept the bag contents from getting wet, but the outer fabric still took a long time to dry. The old purple bag is now my dry-weather bag, and the new black one is for the rest of the year. I miss the purple fabric (the waterproof fabric comes in a much smaller range of color choices), but I’m happy with the “amethyst” trim and “lazer yellow” lining (my photos don’t capture my bag’s colors accurately; have fun playing with Rickshaw’s customizing tool to see the actual colors!).

Speaking of the old bag being on four continents, it was showing some road grime from being set down on all types of terrain. Per Rickshaw’s instructions, I simply detached the strap, and threw the bag into the washer. I dried it by stuffing it with a towel for a day. It’s as good as new, and the fabric shows no wear at all. It’s probably the single best sketch kit investment I’ve ever made – it’s the only item I use every single day without fail.

Updated 2/9/16: Since a couple of readers have asked about the Kutsuwa Dr. Ion organizer, I am showing below an image of the tag that was attached; it might help you in sourcing it. JetPens has indicated that there is a chance they might carry it at some point. It would be great if they did – I have been using the organizer since November, and it’s meeting my needs perfectly!

Kutsuwa Dr. Ion organizer