Behind the Shop

While you will certainly find abundant washi tape made by several different companies in shops throughout Japan, since we were in Tokyo, we wanted to visit the original masking tape company, mt.

Life Stationery is another brand that we’ve carried since we opened our doors, and to this day, shipments from Japan are as exciting as ever. Their Noble Note line is iconic among true stationery nerds, and their paper is fantastic for fountain pens.

I grew up in a small town, and then went to school in another small town. I remember my first time taking the TTC, the subway system in Toronto, and being amazed at the urban-ness of the experience. I think the person I was with laughed at me and said the TTC system is really nothing amazing: it’s a big U and one line across the U.

After years of using and carrying Traveler’s Notebook in our shops, we finally made it out to Tokyo to visit the famed Nakameguro Traveler’s Factory.

The first leg of our Tokyo trip was making it to the ISOT Stationery Show—we stayed at a hotel quite close to where it was taking place, especially since we were arriving late at night in Tokyo, a completely new city for us.

We made it! It looked a bit hairy there for a minute, but we’re all here: all the luggage, most of our sanity, both children.

It’s officially summer here, as the doors are open all day long and it’s iced coffees and ice cream as often as we can get it.

Some of you long-time followers of the blog may know that I have an ongoing battle with spam. It reached a peak some time a year or two ago, and I had to delete a few blog posts that were receiving hundreds of spam comments a day, but now it's "under control."

A year and a half ago, Caleb and I went on a trip to San Francisco, and while there, I kept an insert in my Traveler's Notebook to document some of the things we did. It was my first time flying solo with Caleb and without Jon, and we both survived. We attended a wedding, did some touristy things, and also visited the San Francisco Pen Show.