Kakuno Fountain Pen Soft Blue EF Nib

This is the standard kakuno, Pilot's entry-level Japanese fountain pen, in Soft Blue — a calm pastel blue that reads as calm rather than loud on a desk. kakuno exists to make the first fountain pen unintimidating. The section is triangular, so thumb, index and middle finger settle into the correct grip on their own, the faceted cap and barrel keep the pen from rolling off a sloped desk, and the special-alloy nib is stamped with kakuno's trademark smiling face so you can see at a glance which side is up. The pen is 131mm long, about 16mm at its widest and roughly 11g, so it disappears into the hand during long note-taking. This one is the extra-fine (EF) nib, the finest of kakuno's three widths, made for small kanji, tight planner grids and thin Japanese notebook paper. A fountain pen needs no writing pressure, which is why students and anyone who writes for hours tend to find it less tiring than a ballpoint. Refilling is simple and cheap: Pilot IRF-5S cartridges come in ten ink colors, and a CON-40 converter turns the same pen into a bottle filler. The soft color range covers yellow, violet, blue and pink, with EF, F and M widths depending on the color. Made in Japan by Pilot Corporation.

1. Unscrew the barrel, push a Pilot IRF-5S cartridge firmly onto the metal nipple until it seats and the seal breaks, then screw the barrel back on.
2. To fill from a bottle instead, fit a Pilot CON-40 converter, submerge the whole nib and grip in ink, and twist or press to draw ink up.
3. Hold the pen so the smiling face on the nib points up, and write with almost no pressure — the ink flows on its own.
4. Cap the pen after every session and store it nib up so ink does not dry in the feed.
5. When changing ink colors, flush the nib and feed in cool water until it runs clear, then let the parts dry fully before refilling.