A few months back, I wrote about my relentless search for a pocket-sized mechanical pencil. This was to accompany my favorite pocket-sized pad of paper, the 3”x4” staple-bound Rhodia graph pad. I eventually gave up and settled for a “Pilot G-2 mini” gel pen, which did the job but caused me to cringe everytime I had to cross something out.
One day last week, I pulled out my pad and (inferior) pen on the bus to write something down and my bus-partner, a Japanese woman named Yasuko, mentioned that she had a tiny mechanical pencil about the size of my pen. I demanded to know where she got it, and was disappointed when she told me “Japan!” “But,” she continued, “you might find one at the Kinokuniya bookstore inside Uwajimaya” (a Japanese supermarket in the International District).
That Saturday, Familia Steel headed down to the ID….
Uwajimaya is a sensory explosion. Every square inch is crammed with colorful, whimsical Japanese products, food, and decorations. It’s quite overwhelming, and I regret not bringing my camera.
Inside Kinokuniya, we were immediately confronted by acres of brightly-colored, flowery, Hello-Kitty-esque Japanese papers, pens, purses, notebooks, etc. Amy snarkily asked me if Yasuko happened to mention that her pencil was pink with little animals on it. I thought they had to have “normal” writing gear somewhere. Surely not everyone in Japan carries around stuff with cute frogs, pigs, and bats on it. And, sure enough, right there on the counter sat a cup with dozens and dozens of plain silver miniature mechanical pencils!
My quest was at an end.
The inferior pen substitute along with my well-worn Rhodia pad. The 3x5 index card is for scale.
The micro-thin mechanical pencil attained!
Another pocket-sized pencil. Slightly too big, but I bought it anyway.
The too-big alternate pencil telescoped out to full size.
