Fierce competition between two Tokyo pencil makers led to a "Golden Age" of Japanese pencil manufacturing from 1952-1967. As detailed in this article from the St. Louis Art Supply website ...

Its products are popular among stationery enthusiasts. Fountain pens are not in Mitsubishi Pencil’s product lineup. The company, which dates to 1887, is Japan’s first industrial pencil producer.

NISHINOOMOTE, Kagoshima Prefecture--Wreckage of a wartime Japanese aircraft salvaged from the seabed near here yielded no human remains, only a pencil and what appeared to be a pair of pincers ...