Wisdom from a Clear Pen

For the longest time I’ve had a weird obsession with stationery. I love finding and collecting pens, optimizing inks and paper, collecting a billion notebooks I’ll never use, etc. Recently I got back into using and collecting fountain pens. I’ve kept a pocket notebook for over a decade, and I liked the idea of keeping a fountain pen on hand and using it regularly. Collecting and using different inks is so much fun, and one could argue way more economical than buying refillable pens. However, before getting back into this small hobby, I was daily driving a Muji Gel Ink Ballpoint Pen. My wife randomly picked up a few from a shop down the road from us, and I was immediately hooked. Even after transitioning to a more sustainable model with fountain pens, I kept thinking about those clear, minimal, and simple pens that just wrote so well. Muji set out in 1980 to sell quality goods at affordable prices, the name Mujirushi Ryohin literally meaning “No brand, quality goods.” Since then it’s…