This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Bringing Tokyo's Best Stationary to Global Audiences. Welcome, friends, and welcome to Side Hustle School. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is our segment known as Throwback Thursday. In this segment, we take an in-depth look at someone whose story has evolved since we first featured them.
Last week in this segment, we heard from a woodworker making pet furniture. That was cool. He learned how to reach more customers and streamline his business model through DIY blueprints. Today, in our latest feature, we're going to hear from a stationary lover in Tokyo who began shipping curated paper goods and notebooks, and journals, and writing supplies, all kinds of crafty items, shipping these items abroad all while championing small artisanal shops. What's happened since we first featured Megan?
Let's hear directly from her. She's going to bring us this update. I'll be back at the end to wrap us up. I'm Megan, a stationary lover who relocated from Seattle to Tokyo for a teaching contract. When I first arrived, I spent my free time exploring tiny stationary shops hidden in back alleys, where generations of family sold everything, from calligraphy brushes to special washi tapes.
I text photos of my finds to my friends back home, and they gush over the delicate designs, or the smoothness of Japanese gel pens. So as a casual experiment, I started mailing small stationary care packages to a few friends in the US who were into journaling. One night a friend told me, "I should turn this into a subscription service." They'd pay for it every month. That got me thinking. If a handful of acquaintances were clamoring for these supplies, maybe there was a broader market of stationary fans overseas.
Looking for unique Japanese items, they couldn't easily get back home. Plus, it felt like a win-win. I could help promote these lesser known shops and makers that had become one of my favorite parts of living in Tokyo. I decided to formalize my approach, and with a friend helping to translate, I visited a few local shops I'd come to know well. Some of them were decades old family businesses, and others were emerging designers turning washi tape into mini art.
I told them about my idea. A monthly subscription box featuring curated Japanese stationary items shipped globally. Each box would highlight a small brand or regional craft, along with a short maker story, so subscribers could learn about the people behind the products. I published a one-page website with a payment form for a light box at $25, and a deluxe option at $40. My friends and colleagues posted for me on social media and I shared the project in journaling and calligraphy forums.
Orders began trickling in. Within two months, I was shipping about 30 boxes a month, enough to cover my shipping costs, pay the makers, and stash away a small profit. One of my priorities was to pay fair prices for the supplies and give shops or indie creators a chance to reach customers they'd never have found otherwise. In some cases, I'd feature an exclusive limited-run washi tape design, maybe a seasonal theme, so subscribers got something they literally couldn't buy anywhere else. The artisans were thrilled to see photos of their products in use around the world.
A small brand in Kyoto told me they got an inquiry from a buyer in Germany after one of my shipments. This supportive dynamic became a selling point. In each box, I wrote a little note about how the monthly selection was helping maintain Japan's stationary heritage. Subscribers told me they loved the cultural authenticity, not just the novelty. Now, after a year, I'm shipping close to 100 boxes each month.
My spare room is filled with boxes, bubble wrap, and stacks of postcards featuring interviews or shop histories. Most importantly, I've maintained those relationships with local businesses. Every time I include a new maker in the boxes, they earn extra income and a shot at international recognition. Stationary might seem like a small detail, but for many of these artisans, it's a lifelong passion. And now, it has a global audience.
Hey, Megan. Thanks so much for sharing those updates with us. The business sounds really, really cool. Listeners, let me know what you think, who you'd like to see featured from our archives of thousands of episodes. This has been episode 3,015.
I just still can't believe we are 3,000 days plus from when we first started the podcast and still going strong with an episode every day. If you have a question, a comment, an update about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com. You can follow me on social media, Chris Gelibow, my name, or 193 countries on Instagram. And of course, we've got new episodes coming out every day, always completely free. That's all for now. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
This is Side Hustle School. From the Onward Project.
