My Hobonichi planner

I remember the day I learnt to read… I was at home, enjoying a super cute children’s book called “El Patito Dinki”. Suddently, that non-sense symbols became clear, adopting the shapes of letters I recognized, making words I could understand and letting me to read a sentence… I was astonished… “It is impossible, I don’t know how to read yet, but I am reading…” My eyes got full of tears of happiness, but I wasn’t so sure if it was just a trick of my wild imagination, so I went to ask my mum if that letters meant what I thought… My mum said yes, and, after few seconds, she called me: “Come here again! You can read!”, “No mum, I can not read yet!!!”, “Yes, you can! Sit here and read that book from the beginning”.

It took me a lot of effort, but I read that whole story while my mum was washing the dishes… I felt sooooo happy that I didn’t want to stop reading. But guess what… I didn’t run to read another book, I run to get my notebooks and try to read what I wrote before. The thing is that I learn to write before I learn to read. I knew the alphabet and I could copy the letters. So, if my mum spelled a word to me, I could write it. That way I wrote lots of notes to myself, knowing I will be able to read them in the future. It was so fun to read my own messages from the past, things like “Someday I will grow up and do anything I want” or “I want to go to Japan” or “I wish to have a brazalete with water, glitter and plastic fishes inside”. My point is, that was the time, when I was only 4 years old, when I discover the magic of journaling.

I am keeping a diary (even I did not wrote everyday) since I was 6 years old. The first diary I had was so cute, made in Taiwan, with a really beautiful illustration of a girl with a hat and a pretty dress, talking on the phone in a red telephone box. When I moved to Japan 12 years ago I destroyed all my diaries, as I was too afraid they get lost and everybody discovers my secrets XD but I kept journaling a little bit on my schedule books. Many times it was just a sentence, sometimes I also draw something. Other times I glued there some tickets, photos or labels as a memento…

But as life sometimes is not that easy and you have days you really could use some selfconfidence, I decided to do the same as I used to do when I was little: write messages to myself to read in the future. I also wanted to improve drawing and wanted to draw something everyday. So, I started to look for a planner that could help me to do all of that, with enought space to write all my work and ToDo list. This is how I decided to start using the amazing planner called Hobonichi Techo.

I am a Hobonichi Techo user since 2015. It is an amazing Japanese planner. It is made with Tomoe River paper, one of my 2 favourite types of paper, that is very thin and light, but perfect for fountain pens and even watercolours!!! To write on that paper feels so good you don’t want to stop.

Hobonichi has several sizes and planner types. So far I used the original size (A6) and the Cousin (A5). I am currently using again A6. It also has a crazy amount of covers. There is always a cover perfect for everyone.

My Hobonichi original size

My Hobonichi cousin size

What I like the best about Hobonichi, besides the type of paper, is that the paper has a grid (yeaaaah!!!) and also you have a page for everyday. You have a year view, a monthly view, a weekly view and a page for everyday!!! That way you have plenty of space for your ToDo list, plans, work ideas, remembers, journaling and drawing. It is perfect for everything related to my work and personal appointments. My work doesn’t follow a regular schedule and I work in many different locations every week, so I am extremly careful about not making mistakes. I need to have everything very tied and organized. My Hobonichi helps me with that. I don’t know a better planner that this one for my personal needs.

And, thanks to Hobonichi, I met my best friend, April Wu. It is a crazy story of trust and true friendship that started on the internet. We had met in person first time 2 years ago, and since then so many other times, in Japan and Taiwan. April is an amazing and responsible person, so talented artist and very, very warm. If you check her blog or her Instagram account @penguinscreative you will fall in love with her journaling style and her gorgeous watercolours paintings.

One of April’s Hobonichi master pieces…

Our friendship story was something Hobonichi company didn’t want to miss, and they interview us last January, while April was visiting Japan. Hobonichi headquarters in Tokyo are AMAZING. The office has a very warm atmosphere that really invites you to work with a very good attitude. We both liked it very much, like we didn’t want to leave the place, ha, ha, ha!!!

All the furtinure is made of wood, giving the office a very warm feeling
There are lots of inspirational books and items. Everything they need to keep creative and work running.
We even met the fugu!!! (blowfish) You can follow his adventures on the Live Cam

We both felt so honored to be interviewed for such an important company, with fans all around the world. The staff that works there are very nice and awesome people. It was, for sure, an experience we both will remember our whole life…

Don’t miss our interview titled “We made friends all around the world thanks to the Hobonichi Techo”, where we talk about our passion for Hobonichi and how we met each other…