ZenPop Japanese Stationary Subscription Box August 2018

ZenPop August Stationary Box 2018, Japanese Summer Pack

This box is getting reviewed late.

The September box is still traveling, left Tokyo the last I checked, and is probably on one of those freight ships traveling across the Pacific ocean.

ZenPop Japanese Stationary Pack has 10 or more stationary items per box.  You can make a one time purchase, or select a subscription plan of 3 or 6 months.  One box per month and those who get a subscription receive a bonus item.  A single box is $29.50, 3 months is $28x3 = $84, and 6 months is $27.50x6 = $165.  Shipping is free (boxes come from Osaka Japan so this is a great deal) and plans don't automatically renew (which is fantastic).

In the Stationary Pack you can expect pens and pencils, washi tape, cute stickers, paper products, and accessories.   Brands included can be Sanrio, Tombow, ZEBRA, mt masking tape, Platinum, Kuretake, uni-ball, PILOT, and KOKUYO.

All quotations throughout this post come from the info paper.

 Japanese Summer Pack: "Summer in Japan is super hot but filled with many fun things.  Japanese matsuri (festivals) are events where you can play games, eat kakigori (shaved ice) and watch fireworks.  Or when you are at the beach with friends you play Suika-wari, where you don a blindfold and smash a watermelon with a stick.  We hope this month's stationary is useful, but also gives you a warm feeling of Japanese summer."

Manet Washi Tape

"Another beautiful washi tape from Manet this month!  You'll get either "Soft Ice Cream" "Space Ice Cream" or "Space Flowers" patterns.  Manet is known for their painterly kawaii designs and this month is no different.  These unique tapes have a cute summer feeling to decorate you life with."

I got the ice cream tape.  It's super cute.  Ice cream is always a good idea.

(The pattern is shown a couple pics down.)

Pens!  (I grouped them together)

 Top: Kuretake - ZIG Wink of Stella

"This Popular brush pen has glittery color ink!  You may have tried the Wink of Luna brush pen from a previous ZenPop pack.  The Luna versions have metallic ink, but this one is sparkly.  Of course, it is a great pen to do lettering, drawing, writing, and is great for crafting and decorating."

When I subscribed to this box I was hoping for a brush pen to practice kana/kanji with.  I love this pen and the beautiful sparkly gold color.  It writes nicely.

Second: Pilot - Metallic Juice Gel pen 0.5

"Juice pen is a well known brand, but did you know that it comes in metallic colors? With this metallic ink Juice pen, you can write on not only paper but it also works great on photos and black paper!  Decorate you photos and other things with this pen and make them more gorgeous."

A simple pink sparkly pen.  Can never have too many.

Third: Sakura - Micron Pigma Pen

"This cool pen PIGMA uses pigmented ink, so it is waterproof and has light resistance.  Free from bleeding even if you draw a line over it with highlighters.  Great to use for drawing, illustration, and more!  This time it comes in blue, black, or green."

Micro pens are quickly becoming my favorite type of pen.  I have another that I've been using quite often, so having another is nice.

(Bonus item for subscribers)

Fourth: Sakura - Ballsign Pen

"In case this pack wasn't sparkly enough, here's one more item to add a bit more "kira kira" to anything you write or draw this month!  This ink looks awesome on dark paper."

A simple green sparkle pen.  I should try it on darker paper, as suggested.

Summer Letter Set

"This letter set is made of "Iyo Japanese paper", from Ehime prefecture.  It is called Iyo in the Edo era.  You will receive either a sunflower or watermelon design.  Sunflower tells us that the summer has come, and watermelon is popular for "Suika-wari," a traditional Japanese game that involves smashing a watermelon with a stick while blindfolded."

This is a very small set.  All the spoiler pictures I saw it with I thought it would be typical letter size, but instead it's like a mini set for quick notes.  Not big enough to comfortably send through the mail system.

 Summer Post Card Set

"In Japan, there is a custom to send a postcard in summer to say hello to friends or relatives.  It is similar to new year cards in Japan, but compared to new year card, summer greeting cards are not as popular these days.  Sending a card with your handwriting is always great to express your feelings!"

Cute postcards.  This set came with 3 of the same.  I'll be sending these through Postcrossing.

 Planner Sticky Notes

"Cute sticky notes to write your to do list or a small memo!  These nicely sized sheets will fit to your weekly or monthly schedule book.  Put this sticky marker on your summer pages and make the page more summer-ish!  Combine with your new ocean themes flake stickers to make it extra summery!"

These are memo sheets for planners.  Funny, I have a planner, just not using it.  It would be good to pull it out and give these sticky notes a try.

 Mini Memo Pad - Small Animal Ball

"Cute memo pad from Mindwave!  It has 6 colorful and lovely designs.  The small animal ball is a capsule toy, which we call "Gacha-gacha" or "Gacha-pon" in Japanese.  "Gacha-gacha" is really popular among many people, especially kids in Japan.  When you insert a 100 yen coin and turn a handle, then a capsule (A small toy is inside of it) comes out from the machine.  The most fun point is that you don't know what you are going to get."

I love that this set came with 6 different designs.  Very cute.  And I love the Gacha-gacha design.  When I was in Japan I did get a couple toy capsules.  A must do if you visit Japan; they're not hard to find.  

 Folding Ruler

"By this folding ruler, you can measure up to 30 cm of you open it up!  Moreover, you can measure angle with the protractor on the middle of the ruler.  You will get either pink "ice cream" based designed ruler or blue "summer drink" based one."

A metric ruler.  This fold-able ruler will be useful.

Flake Stickers

"These ocean themed flake stickers are so pretty and shiny.  You probably don't want to get real jellyfish stuck on you but these stickers look so pretty and they won't sting!  Enjoy the feeling of the summer sea and stick these anywhere you need a refreshing little reminder of a sea breeze."

 Super cute, nice stickers.  Seeing jellyfish is my favorite part of visiting an aquarium.  I like the gold accents and pretty watercolor.

This is a nice box with useful items.

Sad Summer is coming to an end, but these items will let me hold on a little longer.