In China and Japan, the market share of fine-lead pencils is far greater than elsewhere. The reason for this is that in other cultures, pens with line widths of 0.5 mm or even 0.35 mm are used primarily for drawings and precise construction plans. The characters commonly used in the Far East, however, turn even simple writing into filigree work, because they can consist of several individual strokes and must be put down precisely on paper even in small print in order to remain legible. Fine-lead pencils are therefore everyday products. The leading manufacturers - such as Ohto in Tokyo - offer small masterpieces which, despite their impressive mechanical sophistication, are surprisingly inexpensive as standard products manufactured millions of times over.