Yamamoto Ro-Biki Notebook Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter.)

We pocket notebook lovers are so spoiled for choice these days that it takes something extra special to turn our heads. Well, these Yamamoto Ro-Biki Notebooks have my head spinning in circles. With these tall, narrow pages--perfect for lists--you can make a nice long list of all the cool things about them.

To begin with aesthetics, these are just gorgeous notebooks. The cover design is elegant in a way that is both fun and professional looking so the notebook can travel between work and play with ease. The colors are rich neutrals. This star map version with the navy background and parchment-colored constellations and script looks like it might have time travelled from a hundred years ago, or been found in a stationery lover's time capsule.

The cover is light cardstock that has been treated with wax. The texture feels a bit grabby at first, but it soon burnishes into a beautiful gloss that looks almost like vintage leather.

The binding is sewn with a lot of sturdy stitches. Inside the cover is a white endpaper, and then 60 pages of cream colored recycled paper. Like most recycled papers, it's not entirely impervious to liquid ink, but it performed very well. My broad fountain pen and flex nib caused some bleed-through, but all the other pens I tested barely showed through at all--not even my firehose of a TWSBI. The front of the page shows no feathering, even with the wetter nibs and inks. Unless you're really laying the ink down, these would work fine with fountain pens.

Branding on the notebook is very minimal--only the subtlest brand is printed on the back bottom in black ink on the blue background.

The dimensions are 3.6" x 8.3", so they're not quite the right dimensions for the regular sized Traveler's Notebook covers, but I think they would still work with it. The height is the same--these are just a bit narrower. I don't think the paper performs quite as well as the Midori paper of the Traveler's Company notebooks, and they are, at $9.00, about $1.75 more expensive. They have more sheets of paper, though. And the irresistibly stunning covers.

I like what I've seen from Yamamoto notebooks so far, and I'm looking forward to what they do next.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Tomoe River Notebook by Sakae Technical Paper: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

I remember when finding Tomoe River paper was difficult. Only one or two retailers offered it in the US, and you had to get an order in promptly or you were out of luck. Now Tomoe River paper is available from multiple retailers in a variety of notebook styles.

Today I’m reviewing the Tomoe River Notebook by Sakae Technical Paper. It is a cardboard-bound notebook with white, dot-grid, 52gsm paper in A5 size. The notebook contains 368 thread-bound pages.

This is a beautifully-made notebook. The thick cardboard cover is textured with a subtle logo on the front. It comes with a plastic cover that protects the notebook from the elements, which is an especially nice touch. The notebook lays flat when open.

The paper is smooth with a light dot-grid pattern on pure white paper. I really like the white paper (I’m accustomed to cream Tomoe River paper) because ink colors look more accurate on white paper.

I tested the paper in several ways: writing reviews, practicing calligraphy, testing pens, and doing swatches. It performed beautifully, though, like all Tomoe River paper, show through is obvious. Bleed through, however, is rare. I only encountered it with my three-tined music nib and a Sharpie.

General Writing

The paper works well for general writing. I wrote a couple of Pen Addict reviews using the notebook, and I have absolutely no complaints about how the paper feels under a nib. It’s absolutely smooth and it doesn’t catch at your nib. Plus, it lays flat when open.

You can see the show through from the review written with a Danitrio fine nib.

Calligraphy Practice

I love this notebook for calligraphy practice. The dot grid provides guidance, and you can write in portrait or landscape.

Thicker lines show through much more obviously than regular writing.

Pen Testing

I used several different fountain pens and other writing instruments to test the paper. It handled all the fountain pens perfectly except for the widest and wettest nib: a Waterman three-tined music nib. I dipped the Waterman, so the number 10 I wrote was especially wet. That was the only ink that bled through (and just a tiny bit).

I also tried several other pens, rollerballs, brush pens, various ballpoints, and a pencil. The only pen that showed through quite obviously was the Sharpie.

Swatches

Last, I tested the paper by doing ink swatches. I love how ink swatches look on this paper. The colors are true, and the dot grid shows in the swatches. Obviously, with such wet ink, you have a great deal of show through (but no bleed through on any of the inks I tested).

As you can see, the paper is lovely and it shows off ink well. However, if you are bothered by show through, you won’t like this notebook (or any Tomoe River paper, for that matter). The thing about Tomoe River paper is that it is super thin and yet ink doesn’t tend to bleed or feather. However, that thinness means that writing will show through. The easy solution is to use only one side of the paper if you’re bothered by show through. I journal on both sides of my Seven Seas Writer (also Tomoe River paper), and I’m not bothered by the show through at all. I love how the paper gets all crinkly and the ink colors meld together in a collage of words.

A few things are missing from this notebook that some writers might want, such as a ribbon marker, pockets on the inside of the cover, and page numbers. But, if you like a sleek, classy looking notebook without any added bulk, the Tomoe River Notebook by Sakae Technical is a great choice.

You can purchase this notebook at Jet Pens for $49.00. Although this notebook is very nice, it is almost twice as expensive as the Seven Seas Writer ($26.00), which has 468 pages (it comes in dot-grid, white or lined cream). The Seven Seas does not have a plastic cover, however, and it is much thicker.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Write Notepads Meeting Notebook Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

Write Notepads have always impressed me with their build quality and value over the years, and the Meeting Notebook is no slouch.

A relative newcomer to the lineup, the Meeting Notebook is not a novel concept, but Write's execution is impeccable. You've probably seen similar notebooks at your local office supply stores, Amazon, and from Rhodia and Japanese stationery companies. The "meeting notebook" usually contains formatting paper that is conducive to taking notes during a meeting or discussion. There's an area for contextual information like date, location, attendees, etc. as well as a reserved space for action items and notes. The Write Meeting Notebook follows these cues, but adds a bit of the classic Write style that we know and love.

As the name implies, these kinds of books can be a lifesaver during meetings. There's ample room for notes, a sliver of margin reserved for recording actions, and minimal amount of space up top for context. It's a great format, and one that I wish I could use more often. I love using this book when attending a meeting as a participant or stakeholder, but I normally fall back to my faster digital notebook (Bear) for recording minutes and actions for calls that I'm leading so that I can record all the details as they happen.

Just take one look at a picture of the paper format and you'll know if this can help you in your job or personal life. It provides enough structure to keep your notes and actions organized, but it's also subtle enough to disappear if you want to use a sheet as an impromptu sketch or doodle during a meeting.

Once you finish a Meeting Notebook, you have a convenient record of your meetings — along with the notes, decisions, and actions that took place. It's a great analog reference tool.

Like I said at the beginning, I'm always impressed by Write Notepads, and this notebook is no exception. The quality of materials is fantastic, and that translates to delight whenever you get a chance to hold or use the book.

I have the black cover version, but they also sell a Pistachio (off-white cover) version that is identical inside.

The twin ring binding is rugged and sleek. When turning pages, I haven't had any issues or hangs along the binding. Being tossed in a busy bag and bouncing around on the commute is an easy task for the binding, and I'm sure it will outlast the notebook. The sheets aren't meant to be torn out of the notebook, and (as such) feel very secure when turning pages back and forth. It does not feel like a page will accidentally tear or start to fall out with heavy use.

The covers are a thick and durable chipboard material. I'm a big fan of the look and feel, and the minimal branding just makes my day. There's a small space on the front cover to indicate a year, project, subject, or other detail, but there is no "This book belongs to..." page on the inside. The first page of this notebook is all business — just like all the other pages. There's no fluff, and I really appreciate.

The format of the paper is something I really enjoy, but now it's time to look at the quality of that paper and how it performs with different types of pens and inks.

In the past, I've had mixed experiences with Write Notepads when it comes to juicy fountain pens, so I was expecting similar results with this notebook.

I was pleasantly surprised after doing several pen/ink samples to find that there was practically no bleeding, show-through, or any other negative reactions. This paper is fantastic! Write Notepads lists the paper as 70# stock, but it performs better than I expected. Fountain pens, gel pens, liquid ink rollerballs, and pencils all performed with aplomb. Not only can you bring this notebook to your meetings, but you can be confident that you favorite pen can also come with you to help document the meeting.

Every time I try out a new Write Notepads product, I'm always happy I did. While the idea of a "meeting notebook" isn't new, I appreciate the unique take that Write took with this book.

The Meeting Notebook sells for $22 and is available in Black or Pistachio covers.

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