Kitchen table: still life, with pens
You know what I love, more than fresh baked chocolate cookies or cute puppies or a really crackin’ pair of foxy heels?
Pens.
That’s right. Some of you know precisely what I’m talking about, because you’re part of my gang.
Why do pens top my list? Do I really have to explain it? Pens won’t come back to haunt you in the summer time (swimsuit season) reminding you of the (delicious, not fat-free) eggnog you had at Christmas. Pens definitely will not chew on your sexy stilettos (puppy teeth marks are impossible to get out of suede). A good pen is like an old friend: you can pick up exactly where you left off, with no need to explain where you went, or for how long, or even why. And like any true, stand-up friend, you always wish the two of you could spend more time together, and wonder what makes that friendship so easy, so effortless…
It has recently come to my attention that one of my best friends, the disposable Pilot V-Pen, is going to be retired.
How sad does this make me?
Pretty darn sad.
The Pilot V was one of my first loves, discovered in the wilds of a Tokyo twenty-four hour office supply store. I thought I had died and gone to some sort of heaven: jet-lagged and unable to sleep, I stumbled into an emporium of highlighters, envelopes, and glue — two floors of office supplies in the heart of Shinjuku. At that time, the Pilot V seemed like just another disposable fountain pen in a sea of many, but I decided it might be fun to give it a try.
The next afternoon was spent sitting in a Harajuku cafe writing postcards to friends back home — I was hooked on the Pilot V. Here was a pen that cost about three dollars, wrote smoothly, and had a range of nib sizes (S/M/L): everything a girl like me needed. I went back to the store and bought half a dozen more, intent on giving them to other fountain pen acolytes when I returned stateside. Since that first trip, I’ve never looked back.
But now, there is sadness. Sure, sure, there’s a “replacement” pen (also made by Pilot), and my spies tell me it is a fine and mighty replacement. The new kid on the block is named “Pilot Varsity” (what’s not to love about the name?!); it comes in a few different colors (purple, turquoise) and has a jazzy design (stripes). I’m sure it writes fantastically and is easy to hold and can program my DVD player for me. I bet it’s wonderful.
letters from Japan, circa 1954
My heart is still broken.
My coping strategies? Well, I went ahead and ordered all the Pilot Vs I can get my hands on and cleaned out all of my local sources. Even though I know hoarding pens is not the most reasonable solution, I can’t help myself. I plan on sharing these precious pens with folks that I know will love and appreciate them, folks who will use them and write letters and create beautiful mail art. I’ll pass on something that I love, even though it means saying goodbye to one of my favorite and most trusted friends.
Sigh.
You can order a range of pens/notebooks/office goods from these companies; they specialize in Japanese office supplies!
– Jet Pens
– if you’re interested in talking/learning about pens of all types and kinds, you might find Stylo Forum interesting…
–JH
PS: thanks to catwrangler for giving me the tip about the Pilot V’s disappearing act…
The Pilot Varsity has actually been Pilot’s official disposable fountain pen offering for the US market far longer than the V-Pen. However, the Varsity is only available in one nib size – rather fat. I preferred the fine V-Pen. Also, the V-Pen hasn’t been available from JetPens for months now. They were the ones who first broke the news to me – a V-Pen addict who also would gladly have stocked up, had I known – when I asked them why the pen was still listed on their website but not able to be ordered. If you figure out a way to actually get a hold of them from JetPens, let me know!
I looked all over the Tokyo Pen Shop, but didn’t see any V-Pens there, either. :-<
Missive Maven — thanks for all of the info! You filled in some of my gaps…
I noticed that JetPens and Tokyo Pen shop no longer have the Pilot V, but thought it would be a great resource for folks who are in love with super-cool Japanese pens. I managed to score a couple of Pilot Vs at my local Kinokuniya store…
–JH
Oh wow, how marvelous it would be to have a local store that carried such goodies…
Hi, just read this post, I have been doing research, and this blog has helped. Thanks.
Derek — glad to be of help!
–JH
Just this week I misplaced both of my disposable fountain pens, and I am sorely disappointed when faced with the prospect of writing with a gel pen. It’s diminishing the pleasure of my letter writing experience. I’m hoping my husband or children unwittingly borrowed them – otherwise it’s a trip to the store for me.
Yay! : a possible trip to the store!
Boo : the misplacement of one’s favorite pen!
I always get so attached to my pens…I find having the “right” tool for the job is important. One of the things I loved about the Pilot V is that the ink dries relatively quickly. Because I’m a lefty, quick drying ink is super: no smudging or smearing as I write my way across the page!
–JH
These Pilot Varsity pens have been around for several years. They drive me crazy. Either way too much ink of it is scratching away. Might be my inability to use the pen Sorry for your loss.
I didn’t realize the Varsity had been around for so long; I’ve only recently started seeing them around. It probably has something to do with the fact that the Pilot V has been the “big pen on campus” for the last few years…
I guess that I could look on the bright side: time to go try out disposable fountain pens and figure out a new replacement…
–JH
Since you’re looking for a replacement, I can’t tout the Platinum Preppy highly enough. (Jetpens is the place for these puppies.) It is both disposable yet easily refillable. I can’t speak to the ink in their cartridges for drying time, because I use the converter with bottled ink. I’m not a lefty, but I’m an over-writer, so I’m a big smudger too. But I’m also addicted to many ink colors, and I can recommend inks that dry more quickly than others… but I’d say start with the cartridges, the ink probably dries about the same speed as the V-Pen.
The Pilot Petit1 is also a great disposable (and refillable) fountain pen, but not everyone likes the size of those.
Hi – really great web site you have created. I enjoyed reading this posting. I did want to publish a remark to tell you that the design of this site is very aesthetically pleasing. I used to be a graphic designer, now I am a copy editor for a marketing firm. I have always enjoyed functioning with computing machines and am trying to learn code in my free time (which there is never enough of lol).
Pavelu — thanks so much for your kind words; I hope you enjoy taking a look around!
–JH
The wonderful V’s can be refilled. See:
http://hans.presto.tripod.com/nibs/refill_varsity.html
Greg — I finally had a moment to take a look at this helpful post; definitely worth a try! Many thanks for the tip; I’ll let you (and RLD readers) know how it goes!
This is one of my favorite pens too! As luck would have it, I accidently ordered 12 boxes of these pens at work last fall. Instead of 6 black and 6 blue pens, I got 12 boxes of pens (6 boxes (1 doz.) of each color). Glad I didn’t send them back! Now, I wish I would have ordered some red and green too! Perhaps its not too late….
Miss Katie — I love your use of the word “accidental”! What a happy accident. It might not be too late to score some more of these pens; when I went to my local Kinokuniya store last week, there was a whole bevvy of the Pilot Vs. Whoo hoo! So of course, I spent a chunk of my paycheck “hoarding for winter”, so to speak…