Ameruu x Cute Things From Japan 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 Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

Sometimes, the austerity needs a little pizzazz. The minimalism needs a break. The blank slate needs some art. While I love the clean lines of my Traveler's Notebook aesthetic, I also can't help but love a notebook that's pretty. This Ameruu x CTFJ Notebook that works as a standalone or as an insert in a standard sized Traveler's Notebook caught my eye with its pretty watercolor artwork on the front cover, and then it totally won my heart with the cute animals on the back. The Bluebonnets and cows are a nod to Texas, and this notebook is exclusive to Dromgoole's Houston store.

The notebook has a thin cardstock cover and is bound with staples to a single signature of 30 sheets (60 pages) of grey-toned blank paper from Neue Grey. The paper is thick and has a smooth, slightly glossy coating. The blank paper and cool grey color would make it ideal for sketching, but it also holds up well with most writing tools. It performed very well with pencils and gel pens. Thicker rollerball ink did cause some showthrough, but not enough to make the back side of the page unusable. Fountain pens worked beautifully. Sharpie did not work at all, but that's to be expected. Artists will have to stick to fineliners for this one.

This lovely notebook costs $10 at Dromgoole's, which is more than a standard plain TN insert, but less than most specialty inserts, whether by Traveler's Company or a third party. That places it pretty average for cost, and it certainly doesn't feel like too much for a nice slim notebook. And I'm not only saying that because this one has cute cows on it, though I am partly saying that because of the cute cows.

This would make a lovely travel journal (especially if you're traveling to Texas), sketchbook, junk journal, or commonplace book. It carries well alone, where you can always see its lovely cover, or as in insert in any standard sized traveler's notebook. I've been carrying mine solo for now, where it's been gathering quick notes as one might gather bluebonnets.

(This product was purchased from Dromgoole’s at regular price.)

---

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!

Yamamoto Canopus Paper 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!.)

Who knew that the Bossman already did a review of the Yamamoto Canopus Paper? Clearly not me, because I did a bunch of background work last week, only to realize he reviewed it back in August. Oops! Anyhoo, he wanted me to go ahead with it cuz I might have a different opinion or experience (or maybe I’d do a better job? Just kidding, Boss!), so here we are.

At the San Francisco Pen Show, I bought the Yamamoto Bullet Jotter along with the Canopus refill. I’ve been wanting to see how Canopus compared with the Sheeps Cloud Bond and Soliste papers that came with the Bullet Jotter. I have since written dry some of the pens I had used for that review, so I made some substitutions. I also picked more pens that either had wet nibs, super fine nibs, or interesting inks, and used them on all 3 papers.

In addition to the Jotter refill (right), I also bought the Canopus A5 notebook, as well as 2 packs of A4 blank Canopus paper (not pictured). The review is for the Canopus Jotter refill.

Left to right: Pilot Custom Heritage 91 (BCI), Platinum Plaisir (Fine), Woodshed Pen Co (BB SIG), Leonardo Momento Zero (Stylosuite EF X-Wing Harpoon flex), Kaweco Piston Sport (Fine), Pilot Custom 823 (FM), Zodiac Pen Co (Fine Monoc), Krusac L-15 (Regalia Sequel).

Additional FPs for writing samples: Platinum 3776 (Stacked Coarse by Gena Salorino), Schon Dsgn Pocket 6 (Masuyama Needlepoint), TWSBI Eco (Broad), TWSBI Eco (1.1), Pelikan M215 (EF), Montblanc 146 (Medium), Visconti Comedia (Medium), Zodiac Pen Co (Fine Monoline by Kirk Speer).

I used a wide variety of nibs from Needlepoint to stacked Coarse, to flex and stubs, and Canopus was pleasant to write on. It is a fairly smooth paper, but also has a wee bit of texture. I wondered how it would behave with the flex and Needlepoint nibs and both were nice to write on and none of the nibs caught on the paper.

Look at the ink puddles from the Stylosuite flex nib!

Gena’s stacked 3776 Coarse nib left some ink puddles too!

Canopus handled that stacked nib like a champ - no feathering. It’s hard to tell from the picture but there is subtle gold/green sheen that’s visible in real life.

Writing samples from the first set of FPs above, Sheeps Cloud Bond (left), Soliste (middle), and Canopus (right).

Writing samples from the second set of FPs.

No ghosting or bleedthrough on either of the two sheets!

Sailor Manyo Fuji, Sailor Suiseki, and Sailor Ink Studio 243 are all lovely shading inks, but Canopus didn’t show as much shading as the other two papers, and the chromashading blue/purple Fuji just looks purple (albeit a pretty purple).

Canopus seemed to “soak up” ink more than the other two, making inks look a bit darker/more saturated. The writing wasn’t actually broader than the others, but the darker ink makes it seem like it is. That said, it is still a very pleasant writing experience and has a bit of “heft” without feeling thick.

Standard pens (l to r): Uni-ball Signo DX, 0.38, Pilot G-2 07, Frixion Clicker 07, Lamy Tipo Medium, Parker Jotter, Ballpoint, Parker Flighter, Gel, Spoke Clickstream, Schmidt EasyFlow 9000 M, Zebra Sarasa Clip 05, Ticonderoga 2HB Soft, Sakura Pigma Micron 05, Tombow ABT, color 476, Sharpie.

Standard pens and pencil on Canopus. The Frixion erased fairly easily (including when I messed up “Pilot” and had to erase and rewrite it). I had a little problem at the beginning of the Pilot G-2 ink scribble.

As usual, only the Sharpie produced any bleedthrough.

I did a brief writing test on Canopus at the SF Show, and took a chance on getting a couple packs of A4. I promptly handed both packs to Steve Curnow of Curnow Bookbinding and Leather to custom make a notebook for me.

Vintage Winnie-the-Pooh book converted to a notebook by Steve Curnow. Kaweco Sport painted by Praveena Nagaratnam.

New book copying project! (I absolutely love the lining!)

Inked up the EF Kaweco Sport with Teranishi Nostalgic Honey (cuz vintage Pooh) and it was a lovely writing experience, even with an EF!

Very minimal ghosting on the back.

All in all, I’m very happy with Canopus, even if shaders aren’t as shady on it. While I liked Cosmo Air Light more than Brad, I like Canopus more because it doesn’t have the squishy/pillowy feel. Good thing, since I have a new notebook to fill!

(Disclaimer: All Canopus products were purchased by me at regular price at the Yamamoto table at the SF Pen Show. All pens/pencils/inks are my own.)

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.)