Not All Hi Tec C Pens are Created Equal

by Kimberly | 1 comments

The Hi Tec C by Pilot is a world famous pen, valued for its fine point, smooth feel, and overall quality. While all Hi Tec Cs are made in Japanese factories and are rightly labeled "Made in Japan", there are different versions of the Hi Tec C produced for different markets around the world. None of these variations perform as well as the tried and true Japanese Hi Tec C for the Japanese market.

The most common impostor Hi Tec Cs are models made for the Chinese market. These can be identified by chinese characters on the paper label stuck to the cap of the pen. Chinese Hi Tec Cs originate in Japan, are sold in bulk to Chinese distributors, and then make their way around the world to unsuspecting buyers.

Chinese Hi Tec Cs look identical to Japanese Hi Tec Cs (once the label is removed) but in order to participate in the low-cost Chinese stationary market, Pilot skimps on some of the best parts of the Hi Tec C experience on the Chinese version of its pen. Most notably, the pen is scratchy on paper and the glide of the writing is not as smooth at a real Hi Tec C. Of course, this results in a much cheaper pen, which is why some internet retailers sell Chinese Hi Tec C pens for full retail price.

Tokyo Pen Shop sources all our products directly from Japan, never from China. Everything we sell can be found in Japanese stationary stores in Japan.

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