Best Remedy for Writer's Block

The commercial viability of a store selling mostly fountain pens would be questionable anywhere else in the world except Japan. But being located in a country of obsessive connoisseurship (probe the average Japanese and you'll uncover an inexplicable command of, say, the finest highland malts or vintage Dunhill pipes), the future of the Shosaikan boutique is assured. Customers who know their piston fillers from their 1952 Sheaffer Snorkels make pilgrimages to this Tokyo store in search of the finest collectable writing instruments. They are rarely disappointed, choosing among such exotica as a 21-karat-gold and ebonite Sailor brand pen, with a dragon...