Man lives in the sunlit world of what he believes to be reality.
But…there is, unseen by most, an underworld, a place that is just as real,
but not as brightly lit… a darkside.

The darkside is always there, waiting for us to enter – waiting to enter us.Until next time, try to enjoy the daylight. —Tales from the Darkside opening and closing voice overs

Any writer will tell you that it is possible to improve something and still manage to ruin it. I’m afraid one of my favorite stores just did exactly that.

After the Ginza Blade Show, because I was in Ginza, I decided to stop by Itoya and check out its brand new building. I was disappointed that they went with a glass front building. That style is trendy in Ginza now and I thought it looked too much like several of the large clothing stores nearby.

The red paperclip in front of G Ito-Ya, the main store. Very modern and very boring. The paperclip is cool.

That was a mild disappointment, but it was inside that really ruined it for me. The old Itoya was badly organized and to find something you had to explore the narrow passages between the stacks of different goods. It was dark and kind of creepy, kind of like an old bookstore where you’re always afraid the top shelf is going to give way causing you to die in a cascading failure of books.

(Note: Yeah, I understand the safety aspects of the design especially in an earthquake prone country. I just don’t care.)

The new Itoya is minimalist and brightly lit. On some of the floors I thought they weren’t finished moving things until I realized there was a method to minimalist madness. It’s an art gallery for a few select goods that are carefully displayed around the edges and at little islands in the center. The old store was the warehouse where the Ark of the Covenant is being hidden.

The best thing about the store, in all fairness, was the notebook level. They’ve installed a kind of “bar” where you can mix up your own notebook and have it made by the clerk working the counter. (I believe they’ve copied this from another store.) They also have a table where you can sit and mark up dozens of sample notebooks and test the paper with your own pens. At some of the displays they’ve placed other samples you are free to mark up.

I took the opportunity to test the fountain pen friendliness of several notebook brands (more on that in a future post).

Behind the main store, across the alley, is K. Itoya which still houses the fountain pens and ink. I went there for a few minutes to look around. It, too, is laid out more like a museum than a store.

I bought a notebook but otherwise didn’t stay very long. I’ll go back another day when I’m in a better mood and feel like exploring all twelve floors a little more.

Note: I did not realize wine would be served later in the day. If I had I might have liked it more. 

A shaky panorama of the entire front. Impressive, but too brightly lit.