Kawaii Stationery Guide

To finish off National Stationery Week, I’ve collected together some of our most helpful tips and resources in one place so you can bookmark it for later. If you’re new to buying and collecting stationery, or need new ideas, here’s some the best kawaii stationery shops online and in Japan, plus cute ways to use your stationery or display it.

Kawaii Stationery Shops Online

Our guide to The Best Kawaii Shops Worldwide has been updated (thanks to Jen!) and is now organised by shipping location. We love all these sites so have a look for stationery shops in your country/region, or many will also ship internationally. We also have a guide to Our Favourite Kawaii Artists, Designers & Makers for unique designs on Etsy and beyond, plus our Stationery & Journaling section is packed full of posts with cute themed picks.

Buy Stationery From Japan or Korea

If you love Japanese kawaii characters or Korean brands, some products can be tricky to find internationally and it’s best to order straight from the source. Andi has a great guide for Cute Korean Sticker Shops while I wrote a step by step guide on How To Buy From Japanese Web Shops With Tenso.

Stationery Shopping in Japan

Japan is finally starting to allow tourists in again so if you’re lucky enough to be planning a trip, it’s stationery heaven! Our Visiting Japan section includes some of my favourite Tokyo shops that I’ve visited, plus round-ups of videos, guide books and other helpful content. For the most up to date information, check out guides by people who live in Japan, like RainbowholicTV which has regular cute stationery store tours and interesting new products. Kaila also recently wrote A Guide to Tokyo’s Art Stores for Metropolis magazine that has some really unique places for stationery that you probably won’t find in the usual guides.

Kawaii Journaling

If you’re not quite sure what to use all your cute stationery for, may we suggest kawaii journaling? Popularised by Kaila of Rainbowholic, it’s a cute take on collage/scrapbooking where you mix up stationery (like stickers, memos, washi tape) with ephemera (tickets, packaging) and hand-written text, doodles and/or stamps. Check out Arlandyia’s Getting Started With Kawaii Journaling guide for lots of inspiration, resources and tips. Or have a browse in our Journaling & Planners section for more creative ideas & DIYs.

Organising Your Stationery

If you can’t bear to use your kawaii stationery, you can at least store it in a cute and tidy way. As stationery hoarders ourselves, we have a lot of tips! Start with Andi’s Kawaii Stationery Storage Ideas (featuring her own huge collection above) and clever On-the-Go Stationery Storage Journal DIY. Or we also have tips for Washi Tape Storage Ideas, and Kawaii Storage & Organisation.

Hope that helps you out. If you’d like us to post more about any of these topics, or a particular type of stationery, do let us know!