An old favorite with some new details…
As many of you know, Sailor works with a few of the larger stationary stores in Japan to produce store-only releases (Bung Box, Joyful-2, Morita, etc.). The “Beside” as Nagasawa calls this model is a rebranded Sailor Pro Gear Slim (Sapporo). Instead of doing a full review of the pen (as it’s identical to my white Pro Gear slim which I’ve already reviewed) I thought I would cover the design elements specific to the Nagasawa release.
For the finial, Nagasawa has replaced the traditional anchor with the ink bottle icon they use on everything from washi tape to lapel pins. The Kobe Ink Story line has become a central icon for Nagasawa and so the bottle makes sense.
Moving down the cap the gold banding is inscribed with “Nagasawa” on one side and “Pen Style Den” on the other. The “Den” is at Nagasawa’s Sannomiyachō store and has a large area dedicated just to pens and ink – definitely on my list of places to go when I make my next pilgrimage to Japan.
Just above the band on the side with “Pen Style Den” there is actually a very light imprint in the resin with the “Pen Style” logo – it’s very shallow and I almost missed it while checking the pen out. Not sure why they did this branding in two spots right next to each other but as it’s not very noticeable it does not bother me much.
Nagasawa has been around for over 130 years and the nib reflects the store heritage with a rooster weathervane, 1882 and Kobe engraved on the nib, along with 14k and the Sailor logo. It’s nice to see how much work they put into personalizing the pen for the store, and that it’s not just a unique color still covered in Sailor’s branding.
One final detail that adds to the overall design is the convertor. They include one with gold accents to match the rest of the pen. It’s a small detail but it does make the convertor feel integrated and not just an afterthought in the pen design.
Getting my hands on this was tough, but with a lot of help from my friend Sawako-san and some luck it’s officially one of my favorites. The color is fantastic and the details (especially that nib) are a nice way to set it apart. So how to get one? Best bet is to keep an eye on Nagasawa’s Rakuten web store – I don’t know if they will offer a third round but Yahoo Japan Auction may be a second place to check, and there’s always the pen forums. Oh and keep your fingers crossed!
