I like using a fudepen (hard tip style), or failing that, a mechanical pencil with 2B lead (anything harder makes writing smoothly harder imo).

I remember things not feeling right when I started learning the kanji.  I also tried to use nice pens instead of any old, scratchy ballpen.  But, I think it might actually be more of a case of just not being used to writing in Japanese.  The muscles in your hand/arm are having to learn to move in different ways too.
Since I finished RTK and started doing sentences (AJATT method) my handwriting has become better.  I'm still using the same type of pen as before, but writing several pages of Japanese a day is obviously having some effect.  It is most noticeable in my hiragana as those are written more frequently, but the kanji are also 'flowing' a bit better now.

When I'm just practicing kanji, I like to use a little whiteboard and fine tip dry-erase marker.  It feels a little brush-like, and because you don't have to press it won't fatigue your hand as easily as pen on paper.

Last edited by vosmiura (2007 November 09, 10:08 pm)

I also use the Pilot G-2 .05 ultrafine. I like the way it can write very small and yet still make the tapering off strokes and hooks. I do a lot of writing and have tried a lot of other pens. Other fine points and calligraphy pens I have tried are either uncomfortable to write with or don't have the smooth liquid flow of a gel.

I started out by using an HB-pencil, but soon moved to my good old fountain-pen. So far it's working ok for me; I prefer the blue ink to the light grey of the pencil.
I might go and buy some fancy pen when I'm a bit more advanced and want to really work on improving my handwriting or even start to dab in calligraphy.

If you live in Japan, I recommend trying out a brush-pen.  They are a little bigger than an average pen, but they have a small bristled tip that resembles a calligraphy brush.  Don't forget that kanji are supposed to be written beautifully, and that the overall aesthetics are only the way that they are because they evolved from the tip of a 'fude'.

The brush pens are actually pretty cool, but I found that I focus more on the looks of the kanji and it winds up being a shodo/shuji kind of thing which is not a bad thing at all.  But for strictly trying to study, everything else writes smaller and faster which is good if you don't want to waste lots of paper or time.

I still like my fountain pen, but to be honest, I've been writing lots on the touch screen of my new gizmo.

It's a fairly large writer, rougly the size of two lines on standard lined paper.

I've thought about fountain pens in the past, but couldn't justify spending a minimum of $25 on an entry level one to check out how they work for kanji. However I just did a search and discovered a disposable one that seems to go for about $2 on average. I'll have to keep an eye out in stores for it. Non disposable ones also seem like a pain with the mess of bladder refills, tip maintenance, ink drying up, etc.

Only real reason I'm entertaining the thought again is because I currently don't have a reliable supply of 筆ペン as I'm out of the country atm. When in Japan I just use disposable 99円 細字 firm type 筆ペン from 99shop or だいこく。You can make very nice looking kanji in a minimum of space with those. The 筆ペン linked earlier is a 中字 soft tip which is impractical for use with your srs drilling (use way too much paper) or for handwriting (ペン字) practice (soft type 筆ペン are supposed to be held differently). If you want to practice some 書道 though, they're great.

Last edited by Jarvik7 (2007 November 23, 3:00 am)

Just got myself a Pentel ERGoNoMiX pen, truly the most comfortable pen I've had thus far for writing Kanji, the Ink is almost the same as the great ink in my G2 & G23.

It's a really good pen for kanji, the wrist rest does get a little annoying until you find a perfect setting for it to enhance your writing.