hobo in kyoto

Sorry for this throwback post. 

Went to Japan with my family in July last year (2018). I just managed to take one photo of my hobo while I was there.

Yeah, my hobo visited his home country :) This photo was taken in Kyoto, at Higashi Hongan-ji temple. As you can see, it's not far from Kyoto tower. I wish I could visit Japan again. Although I have swear I wouldn't buy stationery again, it's still hard to resist. You just can't. They have so many cutes, various types, and excellent quality stationery. There's no country can beat Japan in this case.

nobita-shizuka hobonichi cover

As I said in my previous post, I'm not interested to buy any cover for my hobonichi this year. For 2020, I will keep using my Nobita-Shizuka which still cute and steal my heart.

It's still available for sale on Hobonichi website. For 3024 yen, I think it's still reasonable.

hobonichi release day 2020

I am not so excited for Hobonichi release day this year. I couldn't find any interesting cover. Still, I bought things on the release day on September 1st.

I tried to keep everything below $100 to avoid unnecessary tax in my country. So, prefer to buy things in (small) batches. Normally, I will use this moment to buy predictable sold-out items or cover. Since I don't feel like buying expensive things --I'm kinda broke at this moment-- so I just bought the essentials. 

Here are the things I bought.

- A Hobonichi Card Case to store some important cards or loose notes (432 yen)

 

- My Hobonichi Stencil (the Speech Bubbles) is broken, so I bought this one (370 yen) for replacement.

- This Multi 8 Set is a mechanical pencil with multicolour pencil leads. It's quite expensive (3,240 yen) so I hope it's worthed.

- A must-have plastic Cover on Cover for A6 size. Well, I bought two.. just in case. (216 yen each)

- Plastic sleeve Hobonichi Folder Set by Naoko Horiguchi is in A5 size. I like the graphic design and I can use it for keeping loose sheet of paper. Will pair it with my A5 ring binder. (464 yen)

- The color of Hobonichi Pencil Board (warm gray-pink) is sooo me. I bought for the A6 size (216 yen)

- The usual Planner Book 2020 in English A6 size (2,700 yen)

Planner options are more interesting. Beside the Original Techo A6 (in Japanese), English A6, and Cousin A5, they now have undated techo as well. Inside, there's monthly section and plain grid pages instead of day-per-page. You need to wait until November 1st to buy this undated techo. 

For those who'd like to try bullet journaling in tomoe river paper, they also have Plain Notebook. I was thinking to buy this plain notebook.. but I was hesitating. I think it's kinda pricey (972 yen) for a plain grid notebook. 

Lastly, is the Five-year Techo. It's suitable for thoose who want to note down only the essentials for each day and see the timeline for 5 years span. For the time being, I don't think it's the right planner for me. But to mark the nice figures of 5 year (2020-2025), it might be interesting to have one.

hobonichi yerevan

Barev dzez !

Hello from Yerevan. Last December (2018), I managed to visit Armenia. It was my first time and had somekinda mix feeling. I was thinking to do some research, visiting some museums, etc. But it was cold outside and I stayed in a cozy apartment. So I spent most of my two weeks at home, met my new lovely friends, and getting to know the city. 

One thing for sure, I brought my hobonichi and didn't miss the chance to take pic in front of the landmark. So here's the pic of my proud hobo in front of the Cascade in Yerevan, Armenia. 

Hajogh !

musim alat tulis

Kalau di Indonesia ada musim hujan dan musim kemarau, musim rambutan dan buah-buahan lainnya, maka di Jepang ada musim alat tulis hihihi.. Di acara televisi "The Unknown World of Matsuko", disebutkan bahwa berbagai alat tulis (dengan varian baru) banyak ditawarkan di musim gugur seperti saat ini. Agenda / planner untuk tahun depan pun juga mulai membanjiri pasaran, seperti Jibun Techo, Hobonichi Techo, Moleskine, dll.

Sayangnya di acara itu nggak membahas tentang planner. Beberapa alat tulis yang dibahas adalah gel pen yang tintanya cepat kering, buku tulis yang kertasnya berwarna hitam dan bolpoin tinta metalik (untuk menulis di kertas hitam itu). Selain itu, juga dibahas perkembangan buku tulis Campus dari masa ke masa. Tahun ini adalah peringatan 41 tahun buku tulis tsb. Ada juga tempat pensil yang ada lapisan plastik untuk melindungi pin dan hiasan yang ditempelkan. Terakhir adalah sticky notes dengan gambar karakter tertentu.

Mungkin musti nabung buat tahun depan yaaa... Kalo ke Jepang mau belanja alat tulis, maka bulan September-Oktober adalah waktu yang tepat.

hobonichi release day

September the 1st. 11:00 (a.m.) Japan Time.

For hobonichi fans, that means the day to be wait for every year. It's the day when the upcoming (year of) hobonichi is released. There will be new design for covers worth to be fight for. Everyone seems eager to be the first of having the newest hobonichi on their hands. And sometimes, several covers are sold out within hours. 

This year, there are new improvement on their official website. There are different release days for the products, so the traffic was not so intense. 

We still have to wait for 3-4 months to be able to use the planner. I wonder why people are rushing to get what they want. I think it's passion. It really amaze me how a product (and a brand) can be successful like that. In this case, it's also a matter of excellent product quality.

japan stamp

In Japan, people collect many different things according to their interests. Believe it or not, there are stamp collectors. Not the postage stamps, though.. the stamps I refer in this article are rubber stamps.

In many tourist attractions, such as temples, museums, train stations, and airports across Japan, you can find a corner to stamp your book (or paper, whatever stationery you have) with the unique stamp for commemoration. You can specifically collect themed-related stamps, such as towers all over Japan or JR lines around Tokyo, or just stamp your book with any stamps you can find, just for fun. However, the temples usually need special stamp book called goshuin and you need to follow certain rules.

Anyway, I went to Japan last July and I had my hobonichi techo planner in my bag everywhere I go. Everytime I spotted a stamp corner, I happily got my techo stamped. My sis was also happy to stamp her moleskine. When we went out to seperate locations, we showed all stamps we could get that day after we see each other. My dad also noticed our thing and once he gave me a sheet of paper with a stamp from a train station. 

I really love the idea of stamping the book / planner / travel diary as souvenir. I think a stamp is also mean as a proof of visit. These days we can just snaps some pics to show that we were in such places. But I think, stamp is also quite authentic and unique. Besides, it's more fun to have beautiful stamp when the place is not so instagrammable. 

The above picture is the stamp of Sannomiya Hankyu-line Train Station. Here goes the story behind the stamp. It started when my sis and I needed to go back to our hotel in Kobe from Kyoto. It was already late at night, heavy rain, and we didn't know how bad the weather was. We couldn't get the shinkansen so we took the regular train, got stranded for a while in Osaka train station, followed by late night run to the other side of the station (from JR line to Hankyu line), hurrying to catch the last Hankyu train to Sannomiya station in Kobe. We managed to arrive in Kobe safe and sound. All of those rush and worries were all paid off when we got this stamp.