Hobonichi Techo Cousin – Week One

Migrating from Leuchtturm1917 to a Hobonichi Cousin

Bullet journaling has been a part my life for the last 18 months. Not to get too personal, but I noticed a marked improvement in my anxiety in addition to an increased ability to retain information despite my brain being transformed to mush after the birth of two children. To make a long story short, due to the nature of my consulting job, I had been drawing out an hourly calendar every week in an A5 Leuchtturm1917 dot grid journal beside my task lists and random journaling. When we made the decision for me to quit my job and move the family to Australia, I no longer needed such a rigid format. However, I realized that my pedantic tendencies still longed for structure in the form of an hourly planner.

I then tried out doing a simple weekly format in my bullet journal alongside a structured, hourly calendar in a Recollections planner from Michaels (similar to an Erin Condren Life Planner). This worked well but did I really need two separate books? I know many people use this method with success (check out Cindy Guentert-Baldo of Llamas Love Lettering – you will not be disappointed; especially if “fuck” is in your hourly vocabulary repertoire like myself). But I had not yet reached planner nirvana.

Fast forward a couple months and I somehow stumble across this Japanese company Hobonichi. They have three different planner formats one of which married my need for weekly structure with a format that allowed freedom of expression. I landed on the A5 sized Hobonichi Techo Cousin. Specifically, the Avec version which separates the year into two books. I figured it would give me 6 months to see if I liked it and if I didn’t I could sell the second book. I also thought I would be journaling in it and didn’t want the bulk of the things I tape or glue in adding up over the year. The Cousin is structured as follows: A yearly index followed by monthly calendar layouts, followed by weekly layouts, then finally there is one page for each day at the back of the book. All layouts are covered with a faint grid with spacing of approximately 4mm. All of this printed on an exceptional, but thin, Tomoe River paper (see resource box below). Fountain pen users rejoice. This particular planner is in Japanese (however the days of the week and the month names are in English) but Hobonichi does carry the English version of their A6 sized planner: the Techo Planner (they call their Japanese version of it the Techo Original…to be confusing I guess). One huuuuuuge thing to note: it does say this on their website but I missed this – the time format in the weekly spread is in 24-hour clock format. As an American this is not something I’m used to. It’s not a huge problem so far but: maths.

Though I am mostly a functional planner, the architect in me does like to use a minor amount of stickers and washis for some visual stimulation. I like to differentiate tasks and events mostly by using different ink colors and playing with the Hobonichi stencils. I thought I’d share some of this journey as I like to “stalk” other layouts regardless of simplicity or decoration and there doesn’t seem to be as many Hobonichi spreads as there are highly artistic “bullet journal” spreads.

Would you like to keep seeing layouts? Before the Pen vs End of Week? Or peek into the last 18 months of my bullet journal? Drop me a comment below. But don’t worry, I will be coming back this year with more sewing content and tutorials!

RESOURCES:
Techo – Japanese word for Notebook/Planner
A5 – A paper size found pretty much everywhere except the United States. The nomenclature is derived from the A-series of paper sizes as defined by the ISO. A0 being “large format” and each subsequent number means that the sheet size is 1/2 the size of the number before it. In other words, an A1 size paper is 1/2 the size of A0. Then, A2 is 1/2 the size of A1, and so forth. A5 is approximately 8.3″x5.8″.
Tomoe River Paper – A paper produced by Tomoegawa Co., Ltd. of Japan. It is a smooth, 52gsm writing paper ideal for fountain pen use. Its exceptional properties eliminates feathering and boasts practically no bleed through. The complete Hobonichi line-up is printed on this paper.

| The English Hobonichi site: https://www.1101.com/store/techo/en/
| Hobonichi planner comparisons: https://www.1101.com/store/techo/en/all_about/
| Pens used on this spread: Stabilo88
| Stickers: all but one are from the newly released Krissyanne Designs line now found at Michaels
| Day of week covers: Planning with Kay