No Hobonichi box this year

2024-09-17

After ordering from Hobonichi for 5 years in row, this will be the first time that I do not have the Hobonichi box. After looking at all the offerings Hobonichi had for 2025, I realized that I didn't care to buy more than one Hobonichi planner this year, or any other accessories.

I used to be a big cover person for my Hobonichi. But I've been using Hobonichi since 2020 (bought my first Hobonichi in 2019) and I've largely used the books at home. Now that I'm leaving my house more often, I'm realizing how much of a pain it is to carry around a bulky A5 Hobonichi with a cover on it. Of course, you don't need a cover, but the regular Hobonichi Cousin is just plain ugly without it. I'm usually not a form over function kind of girl but aesthetics matter to me quite a lot. I was originally going to try to buy the Hobonichi Original, which is quite sophisticated looking. It is all black, with a faux leathery look to it and gold embossed logo on it. However, it was only available in A6. I need an A5 for my day to day. It just wasn't feasible.

Enter Sterling Ink. For my planning and journalling, I realized that maybe I needed to try something else. But that doesn't mean that I'll be abandoning Hobonichi entirely for 2025.

My plan for 2025 with Hobonichi is a simple one: I will be using the A6 HON Bow & Tie: Sushi for my book journal. I had a lot of success this year (2024) using my A6 HON as a book journal (you can see how I use it here) and wanted to keep it going into next year. It helped that I am in love with the sushi design and that it was the same design series as my 2024 A6 HON. It's not the most sophisticated look but it is cute and I love consistency. Seeing that I only wanted to buy one item with no accessories and shipping from Japan is exorbitantly expensive, I opted to go with a local group order.

It wasn't until I signed up for a group order did I realize that I wasn't going to get the cute Hobonichi box that come with the order. I was a bit disappointed but then I realized that every time I received one of the boxes, I never knew what to do with it. They definitely helped when I moved out of my apartment but I'm not going to be doing any moving soon. My second thought was that I wasn't going to be getting the Hobonichi pen. Thankfully, a pen is sent with every Techo ordered. Phew.

To my pleasant surprise, I also received a free notebook as well. The notebook comes with only certain techo(s). I didn't expect it and I am quite happy with it. I saw other people posting their notebook freebie and I'm quite glad that I received this design because it's my favourite one from the four different options. The art is apparently woodblock prints from the Meiji era. A very cool concept! I don't really know what I'll use this notebook for. It's an A6 size so maybe I'll carry it around with me just in case I need to quickly jot something down.

Below is a picture of my haul. At the top is just a pamphlet that came with the book. It's quite... Interesting. There is a masked man looming over a little boy, menacingly. I feel like it fits the Hobonichi design aesthetic so well. Like, just a touch of "what the fuck?" The bottom left is the freebie. I love the design on this. It looks like a black clouds against a blue sky. Or the shadow of clouds on the ocean. This small book is 160 pages, which is quite a lot! To the bottom right is the A6 HON. It's a bright yellow (usually not my vibe but I forgive it) and has pictures of little plates of sushi going diagonally across the book. It's so cute!

Despite a smaller than usual haul this year, I'm quite pleased with what I bought. I know that my wallet is grateful as well!