Yamamoto Bullet Jotter Notebook Review

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

One of the (many) things I bought at the 2025 SF Pen Show was the Yamamoto Bullet Jotter and I couldn’t wait to try it out.

The Bullet Jotter comes from Yamamoto Paper, the folks who brought us the Yamamoto Paper Fountain Pen Friendly Paper, Washi Paper Tasting (among other paper tasting packs) Ro-Biki notebooks, and so much more. Taizo Yamamoto, the paper genius behind Yamamoto Paper, has come out with a new creation, this time it’s not paper, but something to hold your notes. Enter, the Bullet Jotter, named in part for the bullet/dot mark at the beginning of lists or bullet points along with the verb “jot” (to take a quick note) and “jotter”, one who jots.

Taizo Yamamoto at the 2025 SF Pen Show.

The Bullet Jotter has a textured cover that feels almost like a combination of fabric and paper. The cover is stiff and flexible - kind of like cardboard or pliable plastic. It measures 4.5" × 7.2" × 0.6” (115 mm x 183mm x 15mm). Inside, there are two plastic slots which hold your Bullet Paper pads, one on each side. The cover lays flat when open, and isn’t meant to be folded backwards (I could sorta bend it backwards a bit but I didn’t want to damage it).

The Bullet Jotter in Gabardine Royal Blue. It is also available in Gray and Black. The elastic holds the Bullet Jotter closed when not in use.

When viewed at an angle, you can see the texture of the Bullet Jotter.

The interior flaps/slots hold the Bullet Paper pads. Because each flap isn’t secured on both sides, there is some wiggle room for the pads to move around a bit. You can also use a pad on one side, and store loose pages on the other.

The black interior has a subtle Yamamoto Paper watermark.

The Bullet Paper pads are approximately 3.75” x 6.75” (95 x 170mm), more commonly known as personal or Bible size. There are 6 different paper options for the Bullet Paper pads, all of which are blank:

1. Sanzen Tomoe River S, 52gsm, 50 sheets
2. Canopus, 73 gsm, 30 sheets
3. Sheep Clouds Bond, 70 gsm, 35 sheets
4. Soliste, 65 gsm, 35 sheets
5. Slight White, 81.4 gsm, 30 sheets
6. Meringue, 65 gsm, 35 sheets

The Bullet Jotter comes with Bullet Paper pads #3 and 4.

In addition to the ones included with the Bullet Jotter, I bought all of the other ones, except for Slight White, which I didn’t love as much when I reviewed it. Since the Bossman already did a review of Canopus, I decided to test the Sheep Clouds Bond and Meringue papers, both of which are new to me.

Each pad of paper comes with a double-sided guide sheet (5mm grid & 10 mm lined).

Sheep Clouds Bond (left) and Meringue (right).

Even though Sheep Clouds Bond is 70 gsm, a bit heavier than Meringue’s 65 gsm, you can see the guide sheet more clearly under it than Meringue. I was still able to see both guide sheets easily.

Closeup of the guide sheet under Sheep Clouds Bond.

Closeup of the guide sheet under Meringue.

Pens & inks used for writing samples: Pilot Custom Heritage 91, Broad Cursive Italic, Iroshizuku Yama-budo; Platinum Plaisir, 03 (Fine) (ignore that I later wrote Preppy by mistake), Platinum Pink cartridge; Woodshed Pen Co, BB SIG, Diamine Autumn Oak, Red Dragon Pen Co with Regalia Trilogy, J Herbin Brun Eiffel; Leonardo Momento Zero, Stylosuite X-wing Harpoon, Kyo-no-oto 08 Urahairo; Kaweco Piston Sport, Fine, Franklin-Christoph ATL ‘23; Pilot Custom 823 FM, J Herbin Bleu Calanque; Zodiac Pen Co Virgo, Fine Monoc, Montblanc StarWalker Blue Planet, Krusac L-15 Purple Heart, Regalia Sequel, Diamine Merlot.

Uni-ball Signo DX, 0.38, Frixion Clicker 07, Pilot G-2 07, Lamy Tipo Medium, Parker Jotter, Ballpoint, Medium, Parker Flighter, Gel, Medium, Spoke Clickstream, Schmidt EasyFlow 9000 M, Ticonderoga 2HB Soft, Sakura Pigma Micron 05, Tombow ABT, color 476, Sharpie.

The Sheep Clouds Bond paper is a white paper that feels similar to Midori (not Cotton). It has a hint of texture while still feeling smooth, but not as slick as Clairefontaine either. For the most part, the Sheep Clouds Bond paper worked well with fountain pens and showed both shading and subtle sheen. It felt fine writing on the paper but occasionally, it felt a little like writing on tracing paper - I noticed this the most with very wet and/or broad nibs.

Fountain pen writing samples on Sheep Clouds Bond.

Impossible to photograph but there was a wee bit of sheen with Iroshizuku Yama-budo and Platinum Pink that isn’t visible from my iPhone camera. Love the shading from Autumn Oak. It can handle the dump of ink from the Regalia Trilogy nib but the lines aren’t always crisp (look at the “ogy” of Triology) - almost marker-like.

The flex nib on the Leonardo had no problems putting ink down, but you can see a few spots where the paper didn’t want to absorb it. The remainder of the pens were fine but again, both of the wetter reverse sides of the Monoc Regalia Sequel felt a bit draggy on the paper, and the lines weren’t as clear as with their regular sides.

There is ghosting but you could certainly write on the back if you wanted. The form factor of the Jotter doesn’t make it easy to write on the back unless you tore off the sheet.

Standard pens and pencil on Sheep Clouds Bond. The Frixion erased fairly easily. I had a little problem with the first “7” from the Pilot G-2, but it was fine the second time. Also, I don’t know why my handwriting is crap with a standard pen or pencil.

Similar amount of ghosting on the Sheep Clouds Bond. Bleedthrough from the Sharpie - is anyone ever surprised?

The Meringue paper is a white paper that is 65 gsm (5 fewer gsm than Sheep Clouds Bond) but it feels thicker. The guidesheet didn’t show through as much as with the Sheep Clouds Bond either. It is neither cottony nor slick, but it felt like it had a little heft (not just in weight but in density). The Meringue paper worked well with fountain pens but it seemed to absorb the ink more quickly. As such, the lines were a bit broader than Sheep Clouds Bond, shading was diminished, and ink colors were more saturated and a touch darker as a result.

Fountain pen writing samples on Meringue.

There is less dramatic shading from Autumn Oak. The Leonardo’s lines are darker too.

Less shading from the 823, and the lines are broader. It handled the wetter nibs better than the Sheep Clouds Bond - less “marker” effect.

There is ghosting but less than Sheep Clouds Bond. You could definitely write on the back if you wanted, unless you used a Sharpie.

Comparison of the back side of Sheep Clouds Bond (left) and Meringue.

Standard pens and pencil on Meringe. The Frixion was a little bit easier to erase. As with the fountain pens, the lines were a wee bit darker and broader than on Sheep Clouds Bond.

Can’t see much back here except from the Sharpie.

Here are the fountain pen writing samples side by side - Sheep Clouds Bond (left) and Meringue (right).

Here are the standard pen/pencil writing samples side by side - Sheep Clouds Bond (left) and Meringue.

Once punched with a 6-hole punch, the Bullet Paper sheets fit in the PLOTTER Bible or the Filofax Personal (and other similarly sized 6-hole binders).

A sheet of Meringue in my PLOTTER.

And in my Filofax.

I would have liked a pen/pencil loop to make it even easier for quick jots, but that is a minor critique, especially since we all know I rarely travel with fewer than a binder full of pens 😀 You could attach a pen loop like the ones from Leuchtturm if you want a pen handy. Even though the cover is stiff, I do worry about its longevity when traveling, so I will most likely keep this on my desk or in my purse/backpack when I go to meetups.

The Yamamoto Bullet Jotter costs $28 and includes Sheep Clouds Bond and Soliste paper pads. Additional pads cost $5.50 for 30-50 sheets depending on paper type. Both products are available from The Gentleman Stationer; you can also purchase them from Yamamoto’s Etsy store (this isn’t available on their Shopify store).

(Disclaimer: I purchased all of the Yamamoto items at regular price at the SF Pen Show. All comparison items are my own.)

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Yamamoto Canopus Paper Review

Us pen addicts are particular about our paper. It’s the engine that makes the pens and inks go, and it’s as important as any singular piece of the writing experience. So why does BIG PAPER keep taking away our favorites?

There’s books to be written about that one day, and I would like to nominate Taizo Yamamoto as the author. Taizo knows more about paper than anyone I know, and possibly more than anyone I don’t know. He is the person behind Yamamoto Paper, and his passion for paper knows no bounds.

His latest creation, Canopus, is designed to be a better version than one of the papers that got away in Cosmo Air Light. When I say creation, I mean that in a literal sense. Taizo creates some of his own paper formulas, and works with manufacturers to have them produced to his exacting specifications. His own Bank Paper was his previous creation, and now a new paper has entered the fray.

Colorverse Blue Crab ink in a Medium Jowo 14k Nib with a Stub Grind.

Canopus is designed to highlight the features of fountain pen inks. Colors are sharp, vibrant, and representative from the nib, and show off all of the different qualities inks have, such as sheen and shading. The feel of the paper is slightly soft and has a small amount of feedback, but is smooth overall.

I used the smooth Kakimori Muddler for the top swatches, and the sometimes scratchier Kakimori Stainless Steel nib for the bottom.

A bit of a light angle change to see the shading, sheen, and shimmer of various inks.

Comparatively, Cosmo Air Light offered brilliant ink representation, but didn’t offer a great nib on the page experience. It had a soft feel, which caused line widths to expand. For example, a stock Fine Jowo Steel nib would leave a line width you would expect from a similar Medium nib. It also didn’t feel great from a tactile perspective. The page was spongy, and the finer the nib, the worse it felt in my experience. So I rarely, if ever, used it for that reason.

Yamamoto wanted a firmer page, and while Canopus is not designed to get all the way there like with Bank Paper or classic Tomoe River, it is clearly firmer than Cosmo Air Light. My most extreme nibs feel solid, with line widths on the page that I expected.

Various fountain pen nibs (left,) and standard pens and pencils.

Canopus is more of a writing page than Cosmo Air Light, but it’s not perfect. There are still some interesting “feels” with standard pens, which I use a lot of. For example, the Schmidt P8127 Rollerball felt grabby on the page, and a little odd. The color looked great, and there was no bleed or feathering at all, but it didn’t glide. Gel ink pens were better, ballpoint pens work on almost any surface, and the fineliner laid down nice lines. On some papers fineliners feel dry, but not here, so it might be a good drawing and sketching paper. Not for pencils though - they felt too glossy on the page.

Great performance overall, with no feathering or bleed. Even the Sharpie was better than on most papers.

Fountain pens were excellent across the board, even my super fine Pilot Posting nib and Sailor Extra Fine. There was no sinking into the page, and both were smooth. I will say, and this goes for any nib/ink combo on Canopus, you can’t double up your lines, or color over the same area a second or third time without the underlying paper beginning to come up. Obviously this is an issue with any water on paper, but I thought this broke down faster on the top of the page than other papers I use frequently (Life, Midori, Maruman, etc.). Interestingly, it rarely bled through the back side in those areas, which is nice.

My kind of shading.

For me, Cosmo Air Light was never a product I wanted to use in a 200 page journal. Inks looked beautiful, but I didn’t enjoy writing on it. Canopus is better in that aspect, and I think I could use it as a journal paper, but still likely prefer it as a 50-80 page A5 note pad. These Bullet Paper Pads, which are what I’m using here, are narrower, but equally as nice. Plus, they are only $5.50 for 50 sheets, which gives you enough pages to test out and see if you want to take it further.

Since Canopus is new to the market, they are coming in and out of stock quickly at various retailers, but expect more after the San Francisco Pen Show, where Yamamoto Paper will be bring these, and more of their fantastic paper products.

(I bought this product from The Gentleman Stationer at regular price.)

Yamamoto Ro-Biki Shape Series Notebook Review

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

Always on the lookout for new pocket notebooks to try, I was keen to try out these the Shapes Series from Yamamoto Paper as soon as I saw them. I've had other notebooks from Yamamoto before, but not in this size. A little smaller than the common 3.5 x 5.5 pocket notebook size, I was curious to try out this slightly smaller version to see if I would notice the size difference.

The Ro-Biki Shape Series notebooks from Yamamoto Paper are small pocket-size notebooks that feature 60 pages of 80 gsm dotted ivory paper sandwiched between waxed paper covers with different designs.

The 3.5 x 5 inch (89 x 127mm) paper is the same size as the Passport size of Traveler's Notebooks, or the same size as a government-issued passport. This is a size that I'm sure many people are familiar with due to the popularity of the Traveler's Notebook system, but I haven't dabbled in this size before.

What really caught my eye were the cover designs. I went with Mountain Night and Wild Plants. There are many other unique cover designs that look great, but these two spoke to me. Getting them in hand, they look great in person and have a soft and pliable feel due to the wax coating treatment. According to Yamamoto Paper, the covers will patina in the same way as brass or leather as you use the notebooks. Aside from providing some protection from damage, the covers will also age and develop their own unique character with use. I'm looking forward to seeing how these covers develop their own story over the coming months of use.

The paper used in these notebooks is fantastic. It's 80 gsm paper that is 100% made from recycled paper with an ivory hue and light gray dots. Writing on the paper is a smooth experience, and I've really enjoyed it with any kind of writing instrument I've tried. I haven't seen any feathering or bleeding, which is great, and the paper works well with all kinds of ink and graphite. There is some minor show-through on the back side of the page, but it's not so bad that it makes the back side unusable. You can definitely see some ghosting, but it's easy to ignore when writing on the back side of the page. For a pocket notebook, I'm fine with sacrificing some paper thickness for lighter weight and thinner notebooks.

The notebooks are bound with both glue and stitching, and feel really solid in use. I have no doubts that these notebooks will hold up well, especially compared to the typical staple binding that a lot of pocket notebooks use.

The inside of the notebooks are completely empty. There's no marketing on the inside covers. The only branding is the small Yamamoto Paper logo on the back cover.

While the passport size notebooks look a lot smaller than the 3.5 x 5.5 inch notebooks I'm accustomed to, it's just an optical illusion. For my use, that half inch height difference isn't noticeable when writing, but it is noticeable when it comes to stashing the notebook in pockets or sleeves. After using these notebooks for a little while, I think I'm already starting to favor this passport size over the slightly larger 3.5 x 5.5 inch size.

At $8 per notebook, these notebooks are a little pricey. A more typical price for a pocket notebook is around $5. The waxed cover and nice paper definitely add a premium feel, but it still seems a little high. At the end of the day, I'd still choose to buy these notebooks again just because I really enjoy the cover designs and how the cover feels in hand. As with all things in this hobby, your mileage will vary, and your opinions are valid! If these little notebooks are calling out to you, you won't be disappointed once you have them in hand. They're high quality products that are a joy to use. Be sure to check out the other cover options!

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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