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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Paperian Flat Checklist A5 Notepad Review

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

Paperian is a new-to-me stationery brand that has a collection of handy notepads that will be at home on any desk along with other stationery or tech paraphernalia. Paperian is a Korean company based in Seoul that have a lot of compelling products on display. Today, we'll take a look at the A5 checklist notepad.

The Paperian Flat Checklist Notepad is an A5 notepad with a pliable glued binding that makes it easy to tear out sheets when you're done for the week. There are 60 sheets in the pad, so you should get more than a year of use out of one pad if you use one sheet per week. The paper is a little on the thick side at 100 gsm, but it has a nice, smooth texture that is easy to write on. The color of the paper is an off-white color that I'd say is a bit more white than the typical ivory paper. I like the color of the paper, and it doesn't negatively affect the ink colors.

There are a few sheet style and size options, but the one I have is called Checklist, and it features a 7-day calendar along the top, a checklist area on the left, and a larger dot-grid notes area with taking up the rest of the space. The top of the page has a space to write in the date or duration of the week. There's a lot of space, so go nuts! Aside from the Checklist style, you can also get Graph, which is 2/3 graph paper on the left, and lined paper on the right third. The bottom right has the only branding, which is a Flat logo and a positive slogan: "Organize all of your thoughts, ideas, and plans that come to mind." It's really small and doesn't detract from any of the usable space on the page.

Before we jump into the page format, let's see how this paper performs with different types of pens and ink! For something that I'd likely keep on my desk all the time to jot down notes or plan out my week, I want something that can effortlessly deal with all types of pens and ink since I tend to have all sorts of writing instruments around. The 100 gsm paper feels nice. It's smooth and has a small amount of texture that provides a nice amount of feedback when writing. The paper doesn't seem to have any coating on it, so ink dries quickly. With a couple of fountain pens I tried, the ink quickly bled and feathered a bit, making the lines look a lot wider than they do on other paper. This wasn't the case with all of the fountain pens, so it's likely down to the combination of the ink and paper. Ballpoints, hybrid ballpoints, gel, rollerball, felt-tip, graphite, and wood-case pencils all work beautifully with this paper.

The format is where this notepad starts to lose me. Everything is so small! I can write small when I need to, but it's not my default and not something I'm looking for in a desk notepad. The blocks set aside for the days of the week are too small to be useful for me. I'm not able to write down more than one useful piece of info per day without running out of space. The tasks section is also a bit small, requiring small writing. The checkboxes are also comically small. The dot-grid notes area is less of a problem due to the open nature of a grid layout.

For my own use, I'd only use very fine pens with this notepad so I could write small and take advantage of the layout. Gel pens 0.5 mm and smaller, ballpoints 0.7 mm and smaller, and mechanical pencils with 0.5 mm lead or smaller is the sweet spot for this notepad. I think my favorite pens to use with this pad are 0.38 mm gel pens and 0.5 mm hybrid ballpoints (like the Jetstream or Acroball). Anything larger makes this pad less useful.

If you like writing small and using ultra-fine pens, this might be a good format for your weekly planning and notes. For everyone else, I'd suggest the A5 Graph option instead.

The Paperian Flat A5 Checklist notepad is $10.50, but you can also pick it up with a graph layout or a full-month calendar layout. And, they have several smaller options too. This notepad is well-made and aesthetically pleasing, but it just doesn't scratch the itch for me. I love that they've laid it out as a horizontal A5 pad and that the sheets tear out easily and cleanly. While this notepad isn't something I'll reach for, I look forward to seeing other products from Paperian!

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

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Life Stationery Noble A5 and B6 Notebook Review

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

The Noble Note line of notebooks from Life Stationery has long been on my radar of notebooks to try out since they get so much attention and are easily recommended. It's taken me a while to try these out because I have a first-world problem of having too many great notebooks to choose from in my stationery stash. But finally, I have a couple of these popular Japanese notebooks on my desk, and I've spent some time with them to see what the hype is all about.

I have the Life Noble A5 notebook in grid format and the Life Noble B6 notebook in lined format. Both of these are available in either grid, lined, or plain paper, and you can also get them in other sizes, like A4, B5, and more. The cover colors are locked to the paper format, though! I wouldn't normally pick lined over grid, but I just had to have the lovely blue cover in hand.

One of the first things that struck me about these notebooks is how well-made they feel. The binding is tight and clean, the edges are straight, and the cover design is crisp. Quality control on these notebooks is obviously very stringent.

Both notebooks have 100 sheets (200 pages) of ivory 84.9 gsm acid-free paper. The binding uses the perfect-bound technique, which involves several sections that are bound with thread and then connected to each other with an adhesive spine. It makes for a clean look where you can see the four sections from the side, and then the characteristic black spine tape. This also makes it easier for the notebook to lay open on its own.

The 84.9 gsm paper is a joy to use. I'm not a huge fan of ivory paper — I prefer white paper — but it's easy to look past that preference in this case. The paper doesn't feel thick, but it performs like thicker paper. I haven't noticed any adverse behaviors like feathering, bleeding, or skipping when writing in these notebooks. There's a bit of ghosting or show-through on the back of the page, but not enough to prevent you from writing on both sides of the sheet. When writing, the feel of the paper through the pen tip is smooth with subtle feedback that lets you easily control the pen. A little bit of texture in paper goes a long way, and these notebooks nailed the balance of smoothness and texture for great writing feel.

If I were to point out a couple of flaws that I've found with these books, it would be these two things: I wish the corners were rounded a bit to prevent them getting bent, and I wish the pages were numbered. Outside of that, it's tough to find anything wrong with these. The paper is excellent, the outside is aesthetically pleasing and functional, and the price is in line with the level of quality you're getting from the product.

These notebooks are slightly more luxurious than other notebooks I commonly use, but they're still well within reach for anyone that has chosen to pursue this hobby and appreciates good paper.

The Life Noble A5 is $23, while the Life Noble B6 is $17. They have plenty of great paper and will last a while with regular use. For the amount of paper you get with these notebooks, they're a great deal and the paper quality is really tough to beat. At this level of performance, it really just comes down to personal preference. If you've already found the perfect notebook and paper for you, then I'm really happy for you and I hope we all find that perfect match! But, if you're always looking for the next possible perfect match, then put the Life Noble notebooks at the top of your list.

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