It’s been a strange season – I think we’re transitioning to the taxi-driver phase of parenting. The kids are enrolled in surfing and soccer and cross country. And I can’t even remember how long it’s been since all four of us have been healthy at the same time.

But on a positive note, our school year has been off to a great start. All the habits and skills that we’ve been working on have all clicked into place and we’ve been humming along and (generally) having fun.

But…. It’s been two and a half months since we’ve been off island and I’ve been getting itchy feet. So we hatched a plan to make a quick jaunt to Tokyo. The plan was that I would go a day early to explore the wealth of Tokyo stationery stores that have been calling my name. Then I’d meet up with Tim and the kids and have a day of family fun before heading back home. But, as I mentioned, it’s been a strange season. And Duke started not feeling well the day after I left… So now it’s just me. And a whole city of stunningly beautiful stationery stores.

Yesterday I trekked from one end of the city and back again. (Which, in Tokyo, is no small trick). Aside from the basic logistics of moving hotels, I was searching out two specific stores: the Traveler’s Factory flagship store and a store named kakimori.

First I visited a store called kakimori. It’s in Taito city – south of Ueno in a quiet residential-ish neighborhood. On my way, I ran into a parade of Japanese kids in Halloween costumes. I didn’t know kids dress up for Halloween here. I wonder if it’s a new thing, or if it’s long established. Anyway, the store is a beautiful jewel. They specialize in making custom notebooks and mixing custom fountain pen ink. I came because I wanted to see the custom notebooks and they are absolutely gorgeous. But I also fell in love with their custom line of pens. I bought a roller pen that uses fountain pen ink. It’s so smooth and beautiful – it’s already my favorite pen.

I’ve been on a quest to visit the Traveler’s Factory for near a year now. The kids and I have started a habit of travel journaling that we’ve kept up with for over four years now. I give them a prompt – something like ‘How did we get around today?’ They write an answer and then do a sketch of whatever they’re inspired to sketch. It’s so much fun to look back over the years at the places we’ve been and the way they look at our adventures. But the journals we’ve been using are bulky and heavy. Since I’m usually the one carrying them, they take up a significant portion of my backpack. So when I understood the system of the journals by the Traveler’s Factory, I got really excited. They’re soft covers with thin inserts of paper. So you’re only carrying around about 40 pages at a time. When you use one up, you slip into a binder at home and put a new insert into your cover. They’re beautiful to look at and beautiful to write and sketch in. And they’re significantly smaller and lighter to lug around on our travels. But you can still look back at our journals through time, since they’re in a binder.

Although you can order their supplies online, I really wanted to visit the store in person. And I’ve tried. Multiple times. But for one reason or another it never worked out. Until last night. I finally made it. And I was so excited to get the three of us everything we need to switch over.

I visited and saw many other things during my meanderings yesterday. It was a luxury to be able to take the time to wander through neighborhoods instead of dashing from place to place.

Today I have more meandering on the agenda.