I've seen a lot of comments saying that only the Japanese would engineer something like this, which is probably true. And there have been some comments not understanding why in the world a pencil like this would need to be made. But there's a reason, and I feel like people are misunderstanding a bit/have a slight misconception. It's not just because Japanese people like precision or something cool like a pencil that rotates lead. Japanese characters (kanji) are complicated and if you've ever seen small kanji, it turns into a little black box of graphite (or pixels if you're writing it on a phone). I use my Kuru Toga exclusively for Japanese and Chinese, not English. And here's why:
1. The rotating system really works!
2. I have a sharp (but not too sharp) point, which means more precision, which means my writing is less cluttered with small strokes. If the characters become crowded together, it could change its meaning or become unreadable.
3. It's comfortable to write with.
4. I'm not spending half my time erasing my kanji and trying to rewrite them more clearly like with my other pencils.
For some people in the U.S., the rotation is just a gimmick. For others, it stops the need to rotate the pencil constantly. And for others, it's also annoying. For me, I don't like using this pencil to write English. But when I think about it, the Kuru Toga was designed for Japanese, not English. And when I use it to write Japanese (or Chinese), it does its job perfectly.
I don't like using it to write in English for a few reasons. First off, I write semi-cursive sometimes, and the pencil requires constant lift off from the paper to do its job of rotating the lead. So obviously, the lead rotation no longer works. The sharp point starts to catch the paper if I'm not careful when I move the pencil upwards writing letters (although by changing to a softer lead, this helped alleviate the problem). With English, I tend to write at various angles, which means that the lead is constantly having to adjust by wearing down inconsistently. In Japanese I tend to write at one angle, which makes this problem non-existent.
In the writing sample below, I took my Kuru Toga Roulette and wrote a sentence in Japanese, comparing it to the same sentence written with another pencil. After that, I wrote some random kanji to illustrate my point. Using the other pencil (and both are 0.5mm), you can see how I have to generally make my handwriting larger in order to accommodate the small strokes within kanji. The Kuru Toga also makes my writing much clearer and therefore more legible.
This, my friends, is why the Kuru Toga was invented. The more complicated a kanji is, the more magnified the problem is. And with traditional Chinese characters, this issue of a not so fine point becomes a really big one. So for this reason, you can see why I like the Kuru Toga for writing in my Japanese classes. It's not just a gimmick; it is a very real necessity. This is also the reason why Japanese fine nibs are generally finer than European nibs (in my opinion).
The Kuru Toga comes in many different models. I currently own the original and the roulette model. At one point I owned the high grade, but I gave it to a friend, hence why I got the roulette model. Since I've owned those three models (although there are many more), I'll review them all and explain what I liked and disliked about each.
The Original:
This Kuru Toga model was the first one released, and is made of plastic. The grip area is transparent, allowing you to see the gears in action when you depress the tip. There's no real "grip", but if you want a Kuru Toga and like a rubber grip, they make those too. Personally, I don't think the rubber grip Kuru Togas look as nice. I wasn't bothered by the fact that this didn't have a grip, since I hold my pencil right where the small rubber ring sits. The plastic at the bottom of the grip area is also slightly ribbed, providing a better grip. Since it is also a bit wider than a normal pencil, that helps too. I only have special editions of the original Kuru Toga (which is why I leave them at home), but JetPens offers a wide variety of colors and styles here.
The High Grade:
As much as I loved the rotation of the pencil lead, I hated the pencil. This pencil is about the same width as a normal pencil, with what I would call a very slippery grip. The grip is metal and hard to hold onto. I had to death grip this pencil, which drove me crazy and ultimately caused me to stop using it. That was when I lent it to a friend who loved the rotating system, and didn't mind the grip.
The Roulette:
I love knurled grips, so I figured I'd give this one a shot. Just like the High Grade, the grip is metal. I wanted to replace my high grade Kuru Toga with one that had an actual grip, and one that I didn't have to fly all the way back to Japan to replace (JetPens doesn't carry the special editions, sadly). If I remember correctly, (it's been a few years since I had the high grade), the Roulette is a bit thicker, but I don't mind it. It sits better in my hand than the high grade, and has seen continued use. This is definitely one of my every day carry pencils.
As you can see, the pencils are about the same length, although the original Kuru Toga is a bit shorter.
Pros:
Decently priced, not super low but reasonable
Does exactly what it's advertised to do
Works great for Japanese, Chinese, and probably other Asian languages
Works for English too, many people use it for that
Lines are thin and consistent
Less lead breakage
Good quality and build
Various different styles for just about everyone
Cons:
Takes a bit of getting used to, especially if you manually rotate your pencils
Lead sleeve has a bit of give (I don't personally mind, but some people do)
Takes a little getting used to
High Grade is very slippery to hold onto
Eraser is TINY (I always use a separate eraser but some people don't)
Notes about the Kuru Toga:
Due to the rotating mechanism, there is some "give" when you put the pencil down on the paper. This causes the gears to separate and rotate slightly, thereby rotating your lead along with it. It's not super noticeable, and I quickly got used to it. However, if you are a really light writer, then you might not press down hard enough to activate the mechanism. In this case, or if you're a cursive writer, I would say the Kuru Toga is definitely not for you.
I also wouldn't recommend using any lead softer than B (maybe 2B) with this pencil, because the lead will wear down too quickly for the rotation system to actually do anything. Since I don't like HB (which comes with the pencil), I stuck with B, and I found that this also meant that I didn't have the super sharp points that occasionally caught on the paper.
Uni also makes a special lead to go with the pencil, with a softer outer core that wears down while the inner core is harder. This helps the pencil maintain its tip and while I like it, it is a little pricey at $3.30 for twenty sticks of lead. However, with the Kuru Toga's rotating system that also helps preserve your lead, those twenty sticks should last quite a while. $3.30 spread out over quite a while (depending on how often you write) could be a justifiable cost.
I am not affiliated with JetPens or Uni in any way, nor did I receive any compensation for this review.
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