HERZ Card Case

I placed order for this card case on 2 Sept 2015 on Rakuten. I received email from the seller, Porco Rosso, they told me that my order would shipped estimated on 4 Nov 2015. I'm not aware that I'm expected to wait as this item was hand made. So I gladly accepted it as I'm not urgently needed it. During the waiting period, I almost forgot about it until they emailed me to update that the shipping date had brought forward to 14 Oct 2015 and they did sent on their said date. I received it on 16 Oct 2015 and I'm looked forward to look at it because if the workmanship and quality was acceptable, I would order more from them as they have many more attractive leather products.

It came in well protected by bubble wrap and in a plastic wrapping

Come with an introduction card and tag.

The 2 cards slots case measurement: 11cm x 6.5cm x 4mm. The material is vegetable tanning leather Camel colour. It does not gives off any smell but able to smell the leather when bring it close to my nose (almost touching). The impressed logo and words read "HERZ MADE IN JAPAN". The workmanship is very neat and the quality of the leather is not soft but is not so hard that it can't bend. I'm replacing my current everyday card case with this. I'm expecting the colour will age and give off vintage look at some time. Just like the leather cover of Midori Traveller's Notebook. The more you use it, the more characters it will become.

Comparing the size of my previous Asumederu card case bought from Tokyu Hands a year ago. The size is pretty standard. I prefer to keep my EZ-Link card in a card case. I don't like the idea pulling out my wallet, moreover credit cards these days will cause the tapping machine unable to read the EZ-Link card properly. So most of the time I have no problem keeping this inside of my pants pocket. Overall,  I'm delighted with my purchase.

Update: After 3 weeks of use
I applied Saphir Renovateur a day later and it changed the colour of the leather. I'm totally pleased with the result. See the photos below, you be the judge.

Pilot Custom 74 Blue

I bought this pen and ink together from Japan ordered through Rakuten. It arrived within 5 days.

Pilot Custom 74 Blue with Fine nib= 8,000yen
Pilot Iroshiizuk Ku-Jaku Ink = 1,125yen

Most part of the body are made of resin. Its overall weight is about 20g. Pretty easy to carry. The length is about 143mm and 155mm when posted.

The screw-on cap is about 66mm and weigh about 8g. The clip is an upside down triangle with a ball on the end and has "PILOT" printed vertically at the top. The clip is stiff and feel very secure.

The band engraving reads "* PILOT MADE IN JAPAN * CUSTOM 74"

The Pilot Custom 74 sports a 14k gold #5 size nib and decorated with engraved classic pattern. Compared to the Fine nib on my Lamy Vista, the Pilot Fine nib writes slightly thinner. This pen is make for the Japanese market, hence I can write small Kanji.

It is a cartridge/converter pen, it can take the Pilot's Con-70 (1 mL), Con-50 (0.7 mL) and Con-20 (0.9 mL) along with Pilot's proprietary cartridges (0.9 mL). In the photo above I'm using CON-70.

I have use it for more than 2 weeks and I'm very please with the overall writing experience. I have so much fun writing with this pen that makes me want to keep on writing. It becomes my current EDC pen.