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tandaina
April 14th, 2014, 09:12 AM
It came!

I ordered a planner from the English Hobochini store on 4/8. It shipped on 4/10. The post office tried to deliver it on 4/12 but I was away for the weekend. :( So I picked it up at the post office today. I just want to repeat that. It left the store in Japan on 4/10 and *two days later* was at my door in Texas, the hold up was me. :jaw:

So here is my "unboxing" photos and some initial impressions!

The box!
http://tandaina.smugmug.com/photos/i-gbjCGJ3/0/XL/i-gbjCGJ3-XL.jpg

I haven't a clue what it says here, anyone want to translate?
http://tandaina.smugmug.com/photos/i-xHWrkpn/0/XL/i-xHWrkpn-XL.jpg

The loot! (Stencils go to Plume, I'll post them tomorrow. They are TINY, even the gel pens I own would be too big for these stencils.)
http://tandaina.smugmug.com/photos/i-dw4LwhL/0/XL/i-dw4LwhL-XL.jpg

The planner is packaged in a little slip plastic bag with this informational card. Very nice card stock, embossed silver logo. Nice!
http://tandaina.smugmug.com/photos/i-8fzVdjm/0/XL/i-8fzVdjm-XL.jpg

And here it is! That is tamoe river paper. :) Beautiful to write on, nothing goes through. And feels so elegant and delicate in your hands. The journal is a mixture of compact and very solid feeling, and sort of airy and gauzy because of the paper. It lays open nicely though the binding needs to be opened properly and prepared for use like you would with a good book.
http://tandaina.smugmug.com/photos/i-F78pDDB/0/XL/i-F78pDDB-XL.jpg

I wanted a leather cover, but all the ones I liked were either sold out or so expensive I couldn't afford them. So I went with the blue cloth cover. It is rather shiny. I also grabbed a plastic slip cover for it to protect the whole thing from drizzle or splashes, or just plain dirt. Note: If you buy a cover it comes with a FREE plastic slip cover without a design. The free plastic slip cover has a zip lock pocket that lets you access the outside rear pocket of the cloth cover. The fancy decorative plastic cover I bought does NOT have that zipper so if you use it you cannot access the outside pocket. If I find I really NEED that pocket I'll have to ditch the plastic deco cover, but I really think it is pretty and will likely just sacrifice function for a bit of aesthetics. ;)
http://tandaina.smugmug.com/photos/i-rvTTzLq/0/XL/i-rvTTzLq-XL.jpg

Finally, a picture with my Pelikan M200 Demo for size. This is a SMALL planner, but I think I'm going to like it. Initial paper tests are (unsurprisingly) great. I will report back when I've had a chance to use it for a few days!
http://tandaina.smugmug.com/photos/i-V6jNdLb/0/XL/i-V6jNdLb-XL.jpg

All in all, great ordering experience. Insanely fast shipping, and beautiful product. I'm excited! Now to take it with me everywhere I go for the next few days and report back. Stay tuned...

mtnbiker62
April 14th, 2014, 09:18 AM
I've been using mine since mid-January, and I love it. I have to confess, though...I don't use a fountain pen with it, most of the time. I usually use a Tactile Turn Y pen with a 0.38mm Pilot blue/black gel refill, and it works great. It gives me the super-fine line I need for those tiny squares! :)

tandaina
April 14th, 2014, 03:02 PM
So I've been playing with it all day. Some thoughts:

1. It is about the same size as my old wallet and built to carry credit cards/ID, etc in the cover. So I've made it into my wallet. We'll see how that goes, it will certainly mean it goes everwhere with me, which is the idea.
2. While the paper is great for fountain pens it will probably not see much fountain pen use for a couple reasons: First, my juicy flex nibs and italics are just too *big* for this tiny book, they'd take up a whole page with a sentence; and second I've found other journals/planners degrade in usefulness because I want to use multiple colors to code personal, work, etc and carrying that many fountain pens with a notebook adds unnecessary bulk. (I have to carry a pen wrap or leather holder, so there are two things to keep track of, book and pen wrap, instead of just one. It is just too cumbersome. I end up just clipping one pen to the book and then I'm back to just one color which doesn't work for me.)

To fix number 2 of 2 I ordered a 4 insert multipen with gel inserts from JetPens. It is pretty and blue and comfy and I now have orange for work, blue for personal, and a pencil and eraser insert. This fits in the pen loops of the journal and suddenly I need no other pens to keep the contents organized and easy to scan. So unless we can find a multi-fountain-pen gel inserts are going to rule the day here. If I really like the pen enough I'll buy a nice metal body, currently using a $3 cheap plastic body to test. I'm actually liking the gel pens, they don't write like the ballpoints I hate. (Edison pens, can you make your double ended pen smaller (thinner) AND with a clip on one end? I know, asking too much.)

There may be things about Japan I don't understand but why oh why did it take me so long to get back to STICKERS?! Almost every proud Japanese journaler who posts pictures online fills his or her journal with writing, silly/fun/beautiful stickers/pictures/tape. They are works of art. So feeling a little silly... I ordered a couple sheets of Japanese journal stickers from Amazon (they sell everything). They arrived today and... I'm a kid again. :) Finding that perfect sticker for your mood, or the weather, or the meal you just ate? Fun. It just makes you *want* to *play* more with your journal. Which makes me at least want to journal more. We'll see long term, but this girl will be ordering more stickers. ;)

I want this washabi (sp?) tape everyone goes on and on about but have no idea where to buy it? Especially in sheets that can be carried with the journal instead of rolls of tape....

Wile E Coyote
April 14th, 2014, 04:09 PM
It came!

I haven't a clue what it says here, anyone want to translate?
http://tandaina.smugmug.com/photos/i-xHWrkpn/0/XL/i-xHWrkpn-XL.jpg


It says "Do not open with knife."

j/k

da vinci
April 15th, 2014, 12:57 AM
Tandania, i bought one earlier this year, after reading about it here. First planner I owned and I am blown away by it. It really is fabulous.

As you know, I rather like broad stub nibs too. I appreciate your point regarding the practicalities of using a fine pen. I have to say that I have bought several fine stubbed fountain pens to use (I had some Esterbrooks, purchased a Pelikan 200 and a Sheaffer Triumph). These work very well indeed and it has opened up a whole new world of fps for me :)

migo984
April 15th, 2014, 04:32 AM
I'm on my third Hobo Techo. I wouldn't use anything else now. I'm really hoping they bring out the Cousin (the A5 size) in an English version next year. I'm very tempted to get a Japanese one now as they do an April start version. I have a collection of 6 covers now. I change them with my mood. All are fabric ones as I use leather notebook covers I already own so I didn't need to buy the Hobo ones. That's the best thing about it being a standard A6, unlike planners like Moleskine.

I have also bought some of the A5 fabric covers, even though I don't have the Cousin, (yet!), as these perfectly fit A5 side-stapled notebooks like Clairefontaine and Rhodia, and others. You've got to love ISO standard sizes...........

tandaina
April 17th, 2014, 02:15 PM
So a few days in (I've been using it since Monday) and I'm really liking it.

It has gone everywhere with me. As a result I've recorded things more easily, and more readily.

I'm using the linear month pages (not sure what else to call these. Each page is two months listed by day straight down the page, one line to each day.) As a log for my horse training. I record if I rode, how long, and a one or two word summary of how it went. Finally I'll have a month/year at a glance to see when problems arose, patterns, etc. (I'll bet rides with :( faces will follow a couple weeks of not getting to the barn regularly. Amazing that.)

The month planner is great for an overview of my schedule. The daily pages I'm recording daily agenda, a todo list (that I just carry over to the next day if necessary), money spent, general impressions, diary entries, doodles/sketches. I feel like I'm building a real record that will be actually *useful.*

The paper is delicious, the gel pens have solved my multipen problem. The plastic cover makes me unafraid to plop the thing down on a restaurant table or wherever, I know it won't get wet or icky. :) I'm sold!

ypsilanti
April 17th, 2014, 05:33 PM
I want this washabi (sp?) tape everyone goes on and on about but have no idea where to buy it? Especially in sheets that can be carried with the journal instead of rolls of tape....

JetPens carries some washi tape, but last I searched their site for "washi tape" nothing came up. Go through the menus looking for tape and you'll find it. I've never seen it in sheets, just rolls.

Ana Reinert at the Well-Appointed Desk blog had a recent post about washi tape. Might be a good place to start. Be warned that once you start, you cannot stop. So find a place to store your washi tape!

Lady Onogaro
April 17th, 2014, 09:18 PM
I want this washabi (sp?) tape everyone goes on and on about but have no idea where to buy it? Especially in sheets that can be carried with the journal instead of rolls of tape....

JetPens carries some washi tape, but last I searched their site for "washi tape" nothing came up. Go through the menus looking for tape and you'll find it. I've never seen it in sheets, just rolls.

Ana Reinert at the Well-Appointed Desk blog had a recent post about washi tape. Might be a good place to start. Be warned that once you start, you cannot stop. So find a place to store your washi tape!

Here's the link for the kind I bought: http://www.jetpens.com/Pine-Book-Nami-Nami-Masking-Tape-15-mm-Retro-Stamp/pd/11707

Newjelan
April 17th, 2014, 11:54 PM
Just ordered one with the soft blue leather cover. Can't wait!

Sailor Kenshin
April 18th, 2014, 05:21 AM
Ohhhhh I haaaaad to look.....

Lol!

heath
April 18th, 2014, 12:45 PM
I love mine and I use a Coleto 5 with it most of the time. I love your blue cover too.

tandaina
April 18th, 2014, 06:02 PM
Got some washi tape. Oh dear, it is lovely and so much fun! I could see it accumulating like ink.

tandaina
April 18th, 2014, 08:30 PM
Just an example of how in a week my use has evolved from straight informational lists to well... This.

As much play and expression as 'planner.' Today I even experimented with printing an Instagram photo. But I had already filled the page with text. So it is taped at the bottom only so can be lifted to read the text underneath. Washi tape rocks.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/19/ymenadyv.jpg

Sailor Kenshin
April 19th, 2014, 04:51 AM
Turquoise and orange. Yeahhhhhhh!

Newjelan
April 30th, 2014, 03:10 AM
Mine arrived in the office on Monday and I collected it yesterday (Tuesday). I also bought the "Robins Egg" leather cover. Oh my! I'm in love! The cover is a beautiful soft blue leather with a beige leather interior. It is gorgeous, feels wonderful and smells divine.

The planner is terrific and replaced the Behance Dot Grid Cahiers I usually toss in my bag for notes on the go. I prefer the smoother texture of the cream TR paper, but this paper is still outstanding. Combined with my Seven Seas Notebook for work use (& Gfeller cover), working & meetings have never been more enjoyable.

I'll post some pictures of the planner and cover on the weekend.