Zebra Co., Ltd. (ゼブラ株式会社 Zebura Kabushiki gaisha) is a Japanese manufacturer of writing instruments. The company sells a wide range of pens, pencils, mechanical pencils, highlighters through retail stores, wholesalers and mail order. In the years since its establishment, Zebra has built a solid reputation as a manufacturer of high-quality writing instruments. The company now offers a line of superior writing instruments that include ball point pens, gel pens, roller ball pens, fountain pens, mechanical pencils and highlighters.
The zebra is a very gentle animal that lives in the highlands of Africa and possess no weapons with which to fight its natural enemies. Instead, it protects itself by relying on its highly developed sense of herding.
Tokumatsu Ishikawa, the founder of Zebra, adopted the zebra as the symbol of his company in 1914 to reflect his desire that all the members of the company would share a similar sense of togetherness and solidarity in marking pens that are indispensable for the purpose of developing and improving culture.The word “zebra” in Japanese can also be written with Chinese characters composed of elements which symbolize “writing” and “royalty,” which Ishikawa believed was very appropriate for a company that was to devoted to the writing instruments industry.
The zebra in our trademark is looking backwards. This is to indicate that the knowledge accumulated in the past is being applied to make progress in new fields.
The power of harmony with man and the spirit of applying the lessons of history are the two pillars that provide the fundamental support for Zebra Pen.