The other day my youngest told me he needed more pencils for school. The Japanese school year ends in March so it's almost over, but I guess he can't wait. Luckily I have a drawer full of stationery that I pick up whenever it's on sale because I know my kids are going to need something from there eventually. So I opened it up, grabbed a handful of pencils and gave them to my boy.

"No, Papa," he said. "These are HB. They have to be 2B!"

Oh yeah...

In America, the #2 pencil is the most common. That's what America calls the HB pencil. HB and #2 are both the middle point between soft and hard. Graphite is fairly soft when it is pure; it makes a very dark line, but that dark line is prone to smudging. Pencil makers add in clay in the making process to make the graphite harder (and less prone to smudging, but lighter in color). The more clay they add, the harder the graphite gets. The full range of pencil grades usually goes from a really hard and light 8H to a really soft and dark 8B. Art students might use the entire range so you can find them all at art stores, but general stores usually only carry the middle grades. Or only the direct middle grade HB/#2 in America's case.

All through school, every single year my supply list would have #2 pencils as a requirement. Schools required them and tests required them. In fact, over the years they have become pretty much the only grade of pencil available to buy in America outside of specialized art stores.

I asked ChatGPT why HB/#2 is the standard for America. It replied:

In the United States, the HB pencil, also known as a #2 pencil, is the standard requirement for exams and standardized tests, such as the SAT or ACT. The HB/#2 pencil strikes a balance between hardness and darkness, making it suitable for both writing and optical scantron systems used to grade multiple-choice exams. The preference for HB pencils in the US is based on their performance with the technology used in these grading systems, ensuring marks are clearly readable without smudging or being too light to detect.

Jumping across the Pacific to Japan, when I moved here many years ago and went to the store to buy some pencils for a teaching project, I immediately noticed that different grades are available. Most stores will have 2B, B, and HB. Sometimes you might find an F or even an H, but those are not especially common outside art stores. F & H would be #2 1/2 and #3 in the American system, if you can find them. When I was in elementary school stores would sometimes carry them, but by the time I was in high school, you couldn't find anything beyond #2.

When my kids started school, I discovered that their schools demanded 2B pencils. The supply sheet cautioned that B was acceptable but 2B was better and that HB wasn't acceptable. I asked ChatGPT why 2B is the standard in Japanese school. It replied:

Japanese schools commonly require students to use 2B pencils, especially for filling out answer sheets for exams and standardized tests. The 2B pencil lead is preferred because it is darker and softer than HB, making it easier for optical answer sheet readers to recognize the marks. This requirement can vary by school and the specific needs of different exams, but 2B pencils are widely used in the Japanese education system for their readability and ease of use.

Funny how according to ChatGPT, both America and Japan require their pencil grade of choice for the exact same reason, in part to make it easier for optical systems to check. I guess the optical systems both countries use are different.

I don't really use pencils enough to have any preference, but if I had to pick, I would say 2B is a little more comfortable to write with. The softer graphite makes it a little easier to use, requiring less hand pressure and therefore making longer writing more comfortable, and the darker pencil mark looks nicer too.

But that said, as you saw at the top with that exchange between me and my son, I often don't really care enough to pay attention to this when I buy them.

What grade of pencil is the standard in your country?

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon.