5 Japanese Things We're Obsessed With Right Now

We get asked all the time: what would you actually buy? Not what's the most historically significant, not what's the most collectible — just, what do you genuinely love right now?

Here's our honest answer, as of this week.

1. Washi Tape in Unexpected Colours

Everyone knows about washi tape. But we've been reaching for the understated ones lately — the tapes in muted sage, ink grey, and dusty rose that don't scream "craft project" but look genuinely beautiful on a notebook cover or an envelope. They're the kind of thing you buy meaning to use deliberately, then find yourself reaching for every single day.

2. A Single Kutani Cup

Not a set. One cup. The Kutani tradition produces pieces so visually rich — jewel-toned enamel painting, birds and flowers rendered with extraordinary precision — that a single cup on a shelf does more work than a whole row of matching mugs. We've been drinking morning tea out of one and it genuinely changes the experience.

3. Fountain Pen Ink Samples

If you've never experimented with Japanese fountain pen inks, the colour range will stop you in your tracks. We're currently using an ink so dark it reads as black until it hits the light at a certain angle, at which point it becomes a deep sea green. This is not a normal thing to love this much. And yet.

4. A Proper Matcha Bowl

Not the ceremonial kind that requires you to take a class before you're allowed to touch it. The everyday kind — a wide, hand-thrown bowl that makes a proper whisk feel good and makes the matcha taste, somehow, better. We don't entirely understand the science of this. We're going with it.

5. Japanese Grid Notebooks

Grid paper is underrated. Not lined, not blank — the quiet, even grid that lets you write in any direction, sketch a quick diagram, or plan something without the page trying to organise you. Japanese notebook makers have been doing this properly for decades. Once you use one, ruled paper starts to feel like a compromise.

Everything above is available at Konbini Australia, sourced directly from Japan. Browse the full collection here — or reach out if you'd like help finding something specific.