Kaizen means continuous, incremental improvement.

The word is constructed from two Japanese Kanji letters - 改(kai) meaning 'to change, to renew or to revise'and 善 (zen) meaning 'to make something better'. The idea of 'Kaizen' can be seen in many aspects of life in Japan. A good example of kaizen in practice is FRIXION pen developed by Pilot ink Ltd. FRIXION uses the erasable ink, which has been developed over a 30-year long trial and error process.

The early setbacks such as showing up again very easily if the temperature was slightly higher, were eliminated one by one by one in a continuous, systematic process. Japanese scientists have synthesised about 1,000 chemical substances and as a result, created the ink which does not reappear until the temperature is higher than minus 20 degrees Celsius. The attitude of not settling down for an acceptable solution but striving for excellence is one of the fundamental philosophies of business in Japan.

The meaning of the word Omotenashi is hospitality and sincerely serving customers. The word is often used in service industries such as hotels and restaurants. However, omotenashi philosophy can be seen in the Japanese stationery. For instance, the basic function of a mechanical pencil is writing and clicking to dispense the addidional lead instead of shaving the pencil top; Japanese mechanical pencils feature additional functions considering of customers' needs such as an automatic spinning a lead out function and protecting a lead from breaking function. The stationery developers seem to always try to hear the voice of customers and Kaizen and Omotenashi mind are very in common because both minds come from makers hopes that making things as better as possible to make their customers satisfied.