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Continuing in my newfound appreciation of minimalism and simplicity, I'm not going to complicate my journaling experience any more than I have to for next year.
We are quickly approaching Hobonichi season, with many people anxiously anticipating the now infamous 01/09 11:00 JST scramble, however I have decided I won't be taking part in the usual festivities this year.
To tell you the truth, I have been utterly put off Hobonichi. The farcical website outage in 2024, followed by 2025's #papergate and 1101's increasingly shady business practices have all led me to the decision that I'll be spending my money elsewhere this year.
To be honest, I initially wasn't going to bother renewing any of my journals at all for next year. Instead, my idea was to continue using Kokuyo Campus Semi B5 notebooks because of how well I have gotten on with them in the last month.
Then, on a whim, I decided to take a serious look at Filofax. I'm serious. I don't know what came over me. Maybe it's a symptom of approaching my thirties.
My partner just laughed at me and said:
You can buy what you want, just don't ever show me it.
Are Filofaxes really that bad?
I've heard that the paper quality pales in comparison to the likes of Kokuyo's Sarasara, Midori's MD or Sanzen's Tomoe River. However, I've heard that the binders are high-quality and thoughtfully manufactured.
While initially expensive, investing in something of a high calibre and sure to last many years seems well worth it. Come to think of it, my Dad still has his Filofax binder from the nineties. So maybe I'll still be rocking mine well into the fifties.
I decided to take the plunge. It cost a small fortune but I did it. I figured I would start out with Filofax's official inserts and, if I can't get on with them, I will look around for more suitable (and cheaper) alternatives.
I decided to go for the A5 Norfolk planner, in the delightful Espresso option. I have bought a horizontal yearly insert, a month over two pages insert and a week over two pages insert, as well as lined paper inserts. I also bought unmarked, cream dividers I can label with my little Phomemo thermal printer to keep everything neat and tidy.
I'll use this new Filofax as a hybrid for planning and journaling, whereas I will use my blue, passport-sized Traveller's Notebook mainly for more lighthearted pursuits like light journaling, scribbling, taking notes and keeping ephemera.
Absolutely nothing related to work is allowed to enter the TN.
I'm really pleased with the layout of my TN at the moment. All of my inserts are blank: one ivory paper insert sandwiched between two craft paper inserts. At the back there is a plastic pocket for ephemera. I have attached a pen loop to the TN's front which currently holds a personalised Leuchtturm1917 Drehgriffel Nr. 1 in sky blue. Sometimes I swap it out for a rOtring 600 mechanical pencil in chocolate truffle.
A champagne-coloured bulldog clip holds the fortune from a fortune cookie against the inside of the cover, it reads:
No need to worry! You will always have everything that you need.
A giant paperclip (also champagne coloured) decorates the first craft paper insert, labelled ƧИOITƆƎ⅃ᖷƎЯ. It is adorned with stickers of decorative mirrors. The ivory paper insert in the middle has a burgundy cover that, for now, remains untouched.
The second craft paper insert is decorated with a brass index clip and a mini-paper clip shaped like a rabbit. The pocket at the back is filled with a variety of sentimental little bits I've picked up in the last year.
At the top of the plastic pocket sit two orange Ohto smile clips. At last, everything is held together by a blue elastic cord with a silver skeleton key charm. Some of the excess binding string I use as a bookmark has a brass seahorse charm dangling from it.
My TN feels very transient, eluding constraints and resisting rigid categorisation. None of my entries within its pages are dated. It affords me freedom to be completely creative and whimsical, whereas the Filofax can concern itself with the mundane matters I have to attend to. Even so, I won't let that make it dull or less fun to use.
I think I will get on just fine using the TN and the new Filofax throughout next year. I'm going to retire my Hobonichis and my Leuchtturm1917 hardbacks for the foreseeable future. Maybe I will return to them someday. They've served me really, really well and have both been fun in their own, unique ways.
I'll definitely continue using my Kokuyo notebooks for longer form writing, though, since it is an absolute pleasure to write with them.
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© 2026 Daniel C. Bush