UPDATE - I love the layout and the paper, so I have ordered the Cousin in A5. I will be using this A6 one to experiment with layouts and to note ideas for putting in the larger Hobonichi!
This is a picture heavy post!
I have seen different videos of Hobonichi diaries/planners and wanted to try the Tomoe River paper and simplified planner pages myself. So I purchased a six month A6 version to try, from etsy seller danika58, to see if I am a Hobonichi convert BEFORE I commit to a more expensive A5 12 month version.
The package arrived from Japan very fast, within a week of purchasing, I was impressed with this as Aussie domestic post can take a loooong time so to have an International post arrive so fast (and free postage) was amazing.
When it arrived, even though I knew it was A6, I was still surprised how tiny it is! Despite its small size it has a day to a page, month pages, a year overview/index and other pages. The Tomoe River Paper can pack a lot of pages in small space. In some of the pictures here you will also see how easy the pages are to read and use despite the small size.
Compared to my A5 Filofax Malden it is very small!
The Techo Avec comes with a small pamphlet, it is in Japanese so I have no idea what is in it, but from the illustrations it appears to be ideas about how to use the planner.
Sorry this photo has the shadow of my phone on it! Despite the photo bombing from my phone,you can see how clearly the day on a page information is printed, the checklist boxes and the grid ruling.
Time table page at the back of the book - I like this it could be used for daily tasks that are repeated.
There is a two page spread at the back with an enumerated list of 100 lines to add your top 100 lists of ... something. I like this it could be used for 100 blog topics, journal prompts, favourite things.
There are two pages of exercises you can do in the office, I cannot read the Japanese but the illustrations are well done and I can understand what the exercises are.
There are two pages with useful phrases in different languages - this is quite a useful and education feature.
More photo bombing from my phone here ... but if you ignore the phone shadow you can see a page where you can list gift ideas to buy or make for people and, a page that can list up to six addresses.
I think this next page is for your details, in Filofax the page is usually put at the front of the pages in the binder.
The pages have months shown by coloured rectangles printed on the pages, like tabs, as you can see by this side view.
Each Hobonichi has a seal with a unique number.
This is a really nice touch, makes the book special!
I will do another blog later on how I am using the book.
