Can one truly love a notebook?
Within the last several months, my discovery of Japanese stationery has led me to a world beyond the standard French and German fare that we fountain pen aficionados consider our bread and butter, since US paper that's FP friendly is rather thin on the ground. I fell in love with the smooth paper, the vintage designs of the pads and notebooks, the firmly stitched binding and subtle ruling. I truly believe that Tomoe River paper is better than any paper in the world to showcase an ink's shading and color subtleties. Richness of color and halos around a letter's edges are surprisingly displayed moreso on this thin, delicate paper than any other I've ever used, especially with broader or italic nibs. And brands like Kokuyo, Maruman, Apica and Life Noble Note have come along to challenge Clairefontaine and Rhodia's near-monopoly in my paper supply.
Rest assured that I still love the Exaclair products (nothing will ever replace Rhodia DotPads or Triomphe blank pads). But there's room for others now.
Enter the Tsubame Fools notebook. The Japanese equivalent to our "Composition Book" in the US, apparently every student uses one at some point in Japan. They've been featured in movies and apparently Akira Kurosawa wrote his script notations/changes in them (and that alone makes it cooler to me, as my inner film geek freaks out). The design has been nearly unchanged since 1947 (like the Life notebooks). It screams vintage.
The "Fools" in the name refers to "fool's paper", apparently some sort of translation problem from Japanese to English (though those with knowledge of Japanese could enlighten me). I thought it might mean "foolscap" but I have no clue really. It's laid paper, slightly off-white and water-marked, that is smooth, but has some slight tooth that's 83.5gsm weight and very FP friendly. It comes in different sizes and styles, though I have the A5 size in the plain "University" notebook. It also comes in a larger B5 size, and in lined, blank and graph ruling (in a different range with colored covers). Jetpens only offers the 30 and 32-sheet notebooks, but from what I understand, the "University" book also comes in 60, 80, and 100 sheet versions. I threw it in my cart on a Jetpens order to meet the free shipping limit as I was compiling a grad-school notebook Christmas gift for a friend. For $2.35, I wasn't expecting much.
But I fell in love. Having recently tried and reviewed Field Notes, I find that this is just as portable but a much superior product all around. No, you can't stick it in your jeans pocket, since it's A5 size. But you can easily throw it in a bag and it features superior paper, stitched binding (that's reinforced at the spine), more pages...and did I mention that it's $2.35? That's almost $1 cheaper than Field Notes per book, and makes FN look a bit ridiculous in my mind.
Sure, you can find a better value with the Clairefontaine A5 notebooks, since they have 48 pages and range in price from $3-$4.50, but this is still pretty good, and I think there are a few other sources that may offer better prices and more sizes than Jetpens, but I have to check that to be sure.
In any case, I've filled up half of it in just a few days. It's been everywhere with me. I love it so much I had to go back and buy a few more, before they disappear and have to be restocked. The Lamy 2000 doesn't seem to like the paper as much as it does Rhodia, but all my other pens write fine on it. The Pilots in particular like it. Ghosting on the opposite side of the page is very minimal and hardly there. Rhodia has it beat in this respect, but this seems to be a characteristic of old-fashioned laid paper that I've noticed; I don't know why that is.
I don't care, though. I love the way it feels in the hand. I love how it feels to write in it, to turn the page, and how it can just slip anywhere, being so thin. It will be a staple of my paper supply for as long as I'm able to buy it.
So is it possible to love a simple, little notebook? I think so.
Within the last several months, my discovery of Japanese stationery has led me to a world beyond the standard French and German fare that we fountain pen aficionados consider our bread and butter, since US paper that's FP friendly is rather thin on the ground. I fell in love with the smooth paper, the vintage designs of the pads and notebooks, the firmly stitched binding and subtle ruling. I truly believe that Tomoe River paper is better than any paper in the world to showcase an ink's shading and color subtleties. Richness of color and halos around a letter's edges are surprisingly displayed moreso on this thin, delicate paper than any other I've ever used, especially with broader or italic nibs. And brands like Kokuyo, Maruman, Apica and Life Noble Note have come along to challenge Clairefontaine and Rhodia's near-monopoly in my paper supply.
Rest assured that I still love the Exaclair products (nothing will ever replace Rhodia DotPads or Triomphe blank pads). But there's room for others now.
Enter the Tsubame Fools notebook. The Japanese equivalent to our "Composition Book" in the US, apparently every student uses one at some point in Japan. They've been featured in movies and apparently Akira Kurosawa wrote his script notations/changes in them (and that alone makes it cooler to me, as my inner film geek freaks out). The design has been nearly unchanged since 1947 (like the Life notebooks). It screams vintage.
The "Fools" in the name refers to "fool's paper", apparently some sort of translation problem from Japanese to English (though those with knowledge of Japanese could enlighten me). I thought it might mean "foolscap" but I have no clue really. It's laid paper, slightly off-white and water-marked, that is smooth, but has some slight tooth that's 83.5gsm weight and very FP friendly. It comes in different sizes and styles, though I have the A5 size in the plain "University" notebook. It also comes in a larger B5 size, and in lined, blank and graph ruling (in a different range with colored covers). Jetpens only offers the 30 and 32-sheet notebooks, but from what I understand, the "University" book also comes in 60, 80, and 100 sheet versions. I threw it in my cart on a Jetpens order to meet the free shipping limit as I was compiling a grad-school notebook Christmas gift for a friend. For $2.35, I wasn't expecting much.
But I fell in love. Having recently tried and reviewed Field Notes, I find that this is just as portable but a much superior product all around. No, you can't stick it in your jeans pocket, since it's A5 size. But you can easily throw it in a bag and it features superior paper, stitched binding (that's reinforced at the spine), more pages...and did I mention that it's $2.35? That's almost $1 cheaper than Field Notes per book, and makes FN look a bit ridiculous in my mind.
Sure, you can find a better value with the Clairefontaine A5 notebooks, since they have 48 pages and range in price from $3-$4.50, but this is still pretty good, and I think there are a few other sources that may offer better prices and more sizes than Jetpens, but I have to check that to be sure.
In any case, I've filled up half of it in just a few days. It's been everywhere with me. I love it so much I had to go back and buy a few more, before they disappear and have to be restocked. The Lamy 2000 doesn't seem to like the paper as much as it does Rhodia, but all my other pens write fine on it. The Pilots in particular like it. Ghosting on the opposite side of the page is very minimal and hardly there. Rhodia has it beat in this respect, but this seems to be a characteristic of old-fashioned laid paper that I've noticed; I don't know why that is.
I don't care, though. I love the way it feels in the hand. I love how it feels to write in it, to turn the page, and how it can just slip anywhere, being so thin. It will be a staple of my paper supply for as long as I'm able to buy it.
So is it possible to love a simple, little notebook? I think so.
