I had a techo kaigi on here before that I did around six months ago, expecting that clearly I wouldn't need any other advice because I was surely, absolutely, completely certain I wouldn't change my mind on anything ever again. I'm not really sure why I thought that. But I was very convinced that nothing could possibly change. Well, here we are. If you don't know what a "techo kaigi" is, it's basically just a reassessment of how you're handling planning. Some people really do just use the same thing over, but it's pretty normal just due to general life changes for someone's needs to change and what's useful, format-wise to shift. (And why it's probably not a good idea for the vast majority of people to plan super far ahead.) Over the last several years, my pattern has mostly been "buy something, end up back at the Hobonichi Weeks". Prior to encountering Hobonichi, I just used a Midori monthly in a fauxdori (knock-off Midori Traveler's Notebook) with varying inserts, usually a weekly one and a completely blank one at the back. I discovered the Hobonichi Weeks and realized it was basically what I was already doing but in a single book, which was really appealing to me because I could "minimize" down how many things I had on me. (But basically take up more space, actually, LOL.) The moon phases and the dates already there was also an appealing aspect for me. So, fall 2025, I went out of my way to make sure I'd get a Hobonichi Weeks. I had planned to buy from Jetpens or Yoseka because shipping from Hobonichi has been increasingly getting ridiculous in a way that cannot be explained by being shipping related or any other outside influence. (Read: Itoi just getting greedy.) That was my plan. So, let's get into why I'm not bothering with Hobonichi anymore. Leaving Hobonichi Behind So, this started with a simple promise. I saw during Hobonichi Preview month that there was a collaboration with Junji Ito. And so I sent the link to brother with the message, "Hey, I'm going to make an order soon. Do you want one of these?" He wanted the Weeks version. So, I said sure, I'll grab it when I get my stuff. And that's when it starts. The Junji Ito collection ends up being a Japan exclusive. Oh no. Shipping and general prices also go up. Supposedly because of tariffs, but people quickly do the math and sort out it's just price gouging because the math ain't mathing. And it's already been an on-going issue with shipping where Hobonichi will blame the company their shipping from for the reason of increased prices, like we aren't all full capable of verifying that information or like no other company uses Fedex. So, this has been grade A bullshit for a long time. They're just pocketing the difference. And then for tariff reasons (while prices are still soaring on their site regardless for Western buyers), any covers last year were required to be bought with a planner. Before, you could just buy the covers if you wanted. The ones abroad are also this way. If you buy a cover, you have to pay for a planner with it. Between all this bullshit and the shipping nonsense, it's now ridiculously expensive to buy anything Hobonichi period, but the cheaper method is buying within your own country. But of course, again, Junji Ito's collection is Japan only and I already promised I'd get one. I had wanted one of them myself, the A6 "watermelon" one, but I'd have to buy a regular techo, which I've never really used successfully in that size. I've done half-assedly better in the cousin, but I've never been able to finish either one of those beyond 60% full. So, I'm really annoyed. But whatever, it's a once a year thing. I'll just take the hit. I overbudgeted for it anyway just to be safe. I start thinking about a way to successfully use the A6 alongside my Weeks. I really like one of the blank notebooks this year, so I plan on getting that too. Then we get to launch day. And the site is fucking crashing for the I-don't-know-what-th year in a row. Once I'm finally able to even check out after refreshing a million times, the Junji Ito books are already sold out in my basket. I keep refreshing and redoing my cart and finally get it so that ONE of them, the Weeks I promised, is still in my cart when I go to check out. Then I wait...eight fucking minutes. Of that damn creepy ass bear serving me weird shit on a plate before I can finally actually pay. Junji Ito Weeks is sold out in my cart again. I back out and try again, and this time, after 13 minutes of waiting, somehow it's still in my cart, and I am able to purchase it. I realize though I've accidentally bought two Weeks. And since I'd committed to the A6 at that point, I did get one (despite no longer needing one since I wasn't able to get the "watermelon", but I was "certain" I had figured out a way to make the A6 size work for me) with a cover. So, there I was left with 2 sky blue Weeks, an A6 cover in basically the same color with an A6 book, the blank I liked, and the Junji Ito weeks. I convinced myself, sure, I'll be able to find something else to do with the other Weeks. Surely, there's something else I can track with it. I look online and the Junji Ito stuff is totally sold out. Seems few people got them and there's speculations about scalpers. I am quickly able to confirm this, because the books are being sold pretty quickly online for absurd prices shortly after the launch, while few people shopping seem to have been able to get even one book in the collection, much less more than one of them. Once the books arrive, I give my brother his Weeks. He intended to use it just as a notebook. I'm pretty fuming with Hobonichi at this point. My package arrived very beat up, of course. I tried to start moving into the new Weeks, but the feelings are bitter. I can't stop getting annoyed at little things about it. Those stupid, stupid quotes. It was a little more bearable when there was no English version so I'd have to make effort to actually read them. But with them in English, I can see how annoying and stupid they are. So much page real estate is taken by dumb formatting bullshit and quotes. Those stupid back pages of useless information I'd always end up covering. The useless stuff at the front. I can't not see some of the stuff in here as the company just being "look at us look at us we added a thing no one else has isn't it quirky". Ugh. I couldn't stand it. Around this time, XHS started allowing foreigners to buy at stores. I was curious what was available there and how ordering through XHS would go. So, I went searching to see if I could find a Hobonichi Weeks dupe. Reading through reviews, I found one at Autumn Island Studio that was supposed to be fountain pen friendly. I bought a weekly version and for fun, I also bought their daily version to see what it was like. The Autumn Island weekly had much thicker paper than Hobonichi, but it was definitely fountain pen friendly. As you know from my Broad Nib Friendly page, I usually use thicker nibs and thicker inks. So, when I say it's good to use with fountain pens, it's definitely good. I have an absolute hatred for people who test paper for "fpf" quality with F and EF nibs. The difference in space, despite the books being the same page dimensions, was obvious right away. No empty wasted space at the top, not space wasted to quotes from irrelevant Japanese B listers, and no annoyance from having to read said bullshit quotes. The difference was immediate. Having to date the pages myself wasn't as much of an annoyance as I thought it would be. In fact, it didn't bother me at all. That was all in my head. I tried to keep up with the Hobonichi Weeks through December. The final week of December, I gave up. I moved into the AIS weekly and daily. I considered what to do with all my Hobonichi stuff, like should I sell them or try to find some other purpose for them to not waste them? In the end, I threw everything away except the blank notebook I got from them, because I was actually using that one already pretty regularly and enjoying it as a journal. But any blank can be a journal. I like the unusual size of that notebook, but other companies sell that size. In the end, all that survived that order was just a blank notebook and a planner for my brother that will also be used like a blank notebook. I decided then I wouldn't be buying from their website ever again, and if I bought anything from Hobonichi in the future, it wouldn't be their planners. I won't be looking at the Preview Month bullshit anymore. I don't expect the XHS store I bought from to stay in business for a long time, but I do now feel "unbound" by Hobonichi. I can find some other thing to go back to. I could quite literally just go back to the TN system if I wanted to. But I am enjoying the current books I got. Right now, I have four books I'm using for the year. I'll get into that more below. IDK. I feel like I a lot of people have been getting fed up with Hobonichi as a company lately. I know in 2024, some of the 2025 planners had faulty paper in them. I didn't end up with one of those, but that shouldn't have happened in the first place. Who knows. I have access to a printer. I could always just make one myself, if I really got bored and couldn't find anything that made me happy. I've linked some of the products I mentioned below, if you were interested in any of them. I'm not affiliated with these companies, LOL. I"m pretty sure this page will get like 2 readers, but whatever. Just in case there is anyone reading this and you wanted to find some of these things, there you go. Current Books

1. Leather Journal: I bought this one recently. I;'d been looking at it for a while, and I've been missing writing in pencil. When I was getting back into using planners after not using them consistently for a long time, it started from me wanting to journal in pencil. Pencil lasts longer than ink, and I like that quality about it. Though it is harder to write with pencil for longer periods of time than a fountain pen, and that was what led me to fountain pens. But it's fine for short writing sessions. I miss using my Kuru Toga Roulette pencils. I haven't used them much since undergrad. I plan on using this journal for single, short thoughts, a subject a page and putting the date at the top. The inner pages have a date spot. I don't usually care for lined paper, but these lines are made of really tiny dots and my brain finds that nicer to look at. I almost never use lined paper unless it's for scrap paper because I find it too restrictive. It's okay here. At least, that's how I currently feel. Much longer thoughts can go to the Denji Log here. I used to journal constantly. I could go through a journal a month. Sometime around when I moved to DW after leaving LJ, I only journaled on DW even though on Xanga and LJ I still kept physical journals. I don't know why that switch happened. After I left DW, I switched back to physical journals in the Midori MD (usually the blank B6 slim versions) and the Yamamoto Ro-biki (also in the blank versions in the long, skinny size) for a while, and some TN blanks here and there. But I ended up stopping journaling altogether. I don't know why it stopped. Whenever I've tried digital journaling again, it also would end quickly. I'm surprised I've kept up with the Denji Log as long as I have, and now I've been able to keep going with The Long Book too. I'm hoping this means I'm back to being able to do this again. It felt like a piece of me was missing when that stopped. This journal is actually a Martha Stewart one. I've reviewed these before. They're not FPF at all, but since I'm using this with a pencil, it doesn't matter.
2. The Long Book: I've been calling this one "The Long Book" since I started using it. This size is called the horizontal A5 or a landscape-oriented A5. I never knew it existed until I saw it on the Hobonichi site and I'm definitely going to look into this size more to see who else sells these. Hobonichi themselves hasn't, at least for as long as I've been buying from them, sold this size before either. This may be one of the few things I rebuy from them, as I do intend on getting a second blank of this (off Jetpens, probably). I've been using this for very brief thoughts, poems, short skeletal notes for story ideas, recording quotes from other people and phrases I liked, writing down words, song lyrics, just lots of random, short things. Initially, I considered sharing some pages from this, but I find it much too personal at this point to share. Even one page would feel wrong to me.
3. Daily Planner: I already linked the shop for this and the weekly one earlier. You'll probably need to use the XHS app if you were interested in it. I didn't expect to like this, because I ended up ditching the Midori Hibino, which is sort of similar with the two page a day thing. But the Hibino was also an A6, a size I just never have been successful at using longterm and I'm coming to realize these book whole year books are annoyingly cumbersome., Having daily stuff in a small, two month format is much easier to carry around. I don't know if I still really need two full pages for daily stuff though. Next year, I may switch to something with even less space per day. Haha, wouldn't it be funny if after all this time, I somehow ended up back in some Midori TN set-up? Silly as it is, I do enjoy seeing the cat art on this too. My first Midori product was that cat line monthly which I'd gotten because it was on clearance at the time.
4. Weekly Planner: This is basically a Hobonichi Weeks dupe, with all of the fat trimmed out of it. Ironically, I am now uncertain if I even need a weekly format, or if I really just need a daily+a monthly set-up. I plan on continuing to fill this out, but I am noticing a lot of redundancy between the two planners. But who knows, maybe I'll end up deciding I don't care for the daily set up after all. Which one I would prefer more, that's what I really am wanting to see as the months go on. I plan on making another update in June or July about how things have been going, and then again in December or next January. The daily planner lacks the months, but does have two months of weekly tables, just without the extra blanks beside them. I'm debating on which I prefer, but also I don't think I've seen another planner use the same set-up as this daily I bought from AIS either. I'll have to keep looking around to see what's out there.