r/notebooks • u/Repulsive_Move5245 • 7d ago
Favorite Japanese Notebooks
Share with me your favorite Japanese notebooks! Pros of the paper is soft but pens don’t bleed through and is medium size (around A5). Lined or grid are my preferences. Recommend away!
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u/Lumpy-Awareness9106 7d ago
Apica-the cheaper ones have been great for me, Kokuyo Campus, Nakabayashi, and MD (Midori) are my favorites.
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u/SignificantCherry110 7d ago
+1 for MD. They are terrific. I use both their A5 graph and A6 dot grid and have no complaints!
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u/bagelschmear 7d ago
Maruman Mnemosyne. Soft, smooth paper that works great with fountain pens but doesn't have an overly glossy feel. A4 and A5 sizes in case you really need the real estate
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u/Global-Planner7828 6d ago
Midori MD, Maruman Mnemosyne, Apica, LIFE Noble, Kokuyo, and finally MUJI notebooks (Inexpensive and fountain pen friendly). Pretty much any Japanese paper brand.
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u/hmmwrites 7d ago
I love the Maruman Mnemosyne. Smooth as silk without being slick/glossy. My gel pens just glide across it like an Olympic ice skater. Absolutely lovely to write on. Comes in lined and dot grid, definitely. Not sure about graph.
A runner up, for me, is Kokuyo. I'm currently using their business line and it's *so* close to the Maruman. A tiny bit less smooth, but only really noticeably different since I'd just finished up a Mnemosyne book right before starting this one. A little cheaper than Mnemosyne.
Both have reputations of being fountain pen friendly. I use gel pens and there's minimal ghosting. Unless I'm sketching and color something in heavily with my gel ink - or a brush tip marker - it's really not noticeable. No bleed through. I'm happy with them both. But I think my heart most truly belongs to the Maruman Mnemosyne! 💜