I became aware of the Japanese stationery web magazine Mai-Bun in the past year thanks to my friend Bruce Eimon. I fell quickly in love with their content, and, thanks to Bruce, I am now able to announce a content sharing partnership with one of the leading stationery web magazines in Japan.
The below announcement was written by Bruce Eimon, who grew up in Japan and now operates his firm, Think on Paper .Co, out of the San Francisco Bay Area. You can find more from Bruce at Think on Paper .Co and Twitter.
The Pen Addict has gained a powerful ally in Japan by forming a content partnership with a prominent Japanese stationery web-magazine, Mainichi Bunbougu (a.k.a. Mai-Bun) . Through this partnership, the Pen Addict gains access to a steady stream of Japanese content, which it will translate and re-post on the Pen Addict blog. We will start with one article a month, with the option to increase the frequency based on audience demand.
Announcement of the partnership on 9/12 at the 22nd Stationery Festival in Tokyo
Who/what is Mainichi Bunbougu?
Mainichi Bunbougu (Mai-Bun for short), translates to "Everyday Stationery", with a tag-line of "No Stationery, No Life." Mai-Bun was started by Takuya Takahashi in 2014, who specifically calls it a web-magazine, and not a blog, in an effort to emphasize that it is an independent media platform that features the kind of stationery that people can use to enrich their daily lives.
Mai-Bun's mission is to share the appeal of high quality, practical stationery which brings joy to people's daily lives, whether at the workplace, at home, or in our social interactions.
The writers at Mai-Bun only write about products they have actually used, so instead of breaking news, its articles focus on products that have been out on the market for some time. Their love of stationery extends to their support for brick and mortar retailers, in that they refuse to have any affiliate links, encouraging people to patronize their local stationery stores (a luxury that still exists in Japan :)
Aside from publishing articles, they collaborate with major Japanese retail stores to curate their stationery selections, and host events in conjunction with major manufacturers, like the nation-wide SARASA Color Election that they organized with Zebra this spring.
We are excited to have a new partner in the world's capital of cool stationery. With access to their extensive network in the Japanese stationery world and their multi-channel activity experience, we hope this partnership will lead to collaborations beyond simple article translations (hint, hint... #PenAddictLiveAtBudokan!)
Stay tuned to the first article coming in the next few weeks, and let us know what you would like to see come out of this partnership!
