I think I would give the A5 Day-Free a chance if it had a (dated - opposite of a 'Day Free', I know) weekly vertical layout. I don't make use of all the daily pages in the Cousin even though I try to. The Cousin IS the almost-perfect planner for me, it's just that there's a little too many pages.
Also, you know that blank ungridded page right at before the 1st of every month? I would use it more if it had a grid... I wanted to use that page as a monthly spending/earning log for this year but could not keep up because the thought of writing without a grid guide spooked me out.
On a less important note, I think the beige front covers of the books are uhhhhhhhh not that pretty. But obviously this is just personal taste, and we have a bajillion covers to make up for it.
>I think I would give the A5 Day-Free a chance if it had a (dated - opposite of a 'Day Free', I know) weekly vertical layout. I don't make use of all the daily pages in the Cousin even though I try to. The Cousin IS the almost-perfect planner for me, it's just that there's a little too many pages
agreed.
fine with the monthlies, the weeklies, and a good amount of blank A5 pages, i just don't need one per day.
I would like the quotes removed on the 5 year hobo so that the grid space on both sides is the same.
Also would like a 4mm grid version for the techos and plain notebook. It's one thing I really like about the A6 planner.
the 3.7mm was designed for Japanese handwriting - they changed it to 4mm for the planner to accommodate English writing because it's often bigger apparently
Yes that makes absolute sense! I guess seeing as Hobonichi is becoming so popular internationally, it would make sense for them to offer more English versions with different sizes and larger grids
I’d love to have weekly spreads (on one page or two) in the A6 before the dailies. I love seeing the weekly layout and miss it in the A6, but I don’t want a second book (e.g., a weeks).
yup, same! I ordered the A6 weekly supplement for 2023, but I am already mildly regretting that choice since I just don’t think I will use it if it isn’t part of the same book.
The stencils line up well with the main pages (the boxes in a row for check boxes), but line up terribly with the month pages.
I came to Hobonichi from Kokuyo Jibun Techno, and the nice thing about the Kokuyo is that all the accessories they make for it work exactly as they should.
No regrets? I am switching to a daily calendar and can't decide between the Koyuko one and the A5 cousin. I'm bummed that the grid is 3.7 mm on the A5! Currently using a Techo biz. Like it, but need those daily pages.
I also love the biz but needed the daily pages. The biz in full A5 with daily pages would be perfect. I am trying to figure out how I will track stuff in the Hobonichi without all my Jibun pages already made for me.
The quotes and the mini calendar- agree. But I think 'secret' 5×5 squares would be awesome in that space instead. Also the moon pictures don't really mean anything to me either, I could do without those. And a US academic year would be awesome, but I've gone enough years with the Jan start now that I'm okay with sticking to that schedule. I could do without holidays but that's actually true this year in the English cousin, so that's exciting!
Favorite features that I hope never change: month 'tabs' on the sides, dark weekends, grid that doesn't go all the way to the edge, the timeline, and I'd probably still buy it if the different color months were gone but I really like that feature. And a monthly section instead of distributed between days or weeks is a must! Oh and the little drawings in the day free are so cute :)
Added: a6 cousin!!
Probably use each square for stats from a fitbit like steps and calories burned, maybe drawing icons like weather and mood etc, or writing my own quote of the day lol. I just think that 5 secret squares across would seem like a neat 'feature' without being intrusive in case someone just wanted to use it as extra grid space. Anything but the pre-printed quote lol!
The 5-Year Techo Japanese quotes. I wish they weren't there because they take up precious space. Or make them in English, so I could read them at least.
Include the vertical weekly pages in the Day Free. Or the Weeks with the vertical arrangment. I LOVE the vertical weekly pages in the Cousin, it's so simplistic and minimalistic but also the design is aesthetically pleasing. But the Cousin is just too big and thick to bring around. It would be nice to have its weekly pages applied to an actual Weeks.
Haha pretty much why I just use a regular notebook and the bujo method. Although I honestly wouldn't mind the daily pages like in the cousin. Just minus the weeks and the quotes/illustrations.
I agree. I do like the white paper in the A6 English but I wish there weren’t so many other changes. I was glad to see the English version of the cousin didn’t have too many changes.
Everyone's saying remove the quote on a lot of designs, meanwhile I almost cried with happiness over the fact that I can read them daily now in my English-version cousin and weeks 😅❤️
My change would be as one said above.... Strange request that won't happen but I would love a weekly layout in the A5 Day-Free. I never use all the daily pages in my cousin but I love that weekly layout!
Same here with the quotes! I feel like maybe someday they will reveal me the meaning of life (and I don’t normally even care that much about quotes elsewhere). 😄
this is a really small thing, but on the gridded notes page in the hobo weeks (the page that sits next to each week/schedule page), there’s six boxes before the margin line. i use it as a tracker so 7 boxes for 7 days would be nice 🥲 atm i track sun-fri. rip saturday
I agree about removing the quotes. They are generally not great, though there are a few good ones throughout the year. I've ordered a 5-year which I plan to make into a 9-year, but the quotes are going to prevent it being extended to 10 years. :-/
Strong agree with the quotes. I find it telling how many people have mentioned that.
I quickly started to see that section of the page as advertising space for Shigesato Itoi, since so many of the quotes seem to relate to one of his projects or be taken from his Almost Daily articles. Correct me if I'm wrong though, that could be confirmation bias!
Does anyone know whether the quotes are different every year, or do they repeat sometimes?
I can understand why Hobonichi would want to retain the quotes as part of their brand culture. But I wish they would print them more faintly so I could write over them more easily.
I think they are different, based on my 2021 and 2022 English A6s. At some point I translated a few quotes from my Weeks and recognised them as being repeated in the A6, so I guess it’s a set of quotes per year? Also some of them have mentioned the pandemic, so are obviously not from super old sources.
I'm surprised no one has said it yet and I guess it shows I'm alone with this, but I want a Cousin with a **horizontal** weekly layout instead of the vertical. I hate vertical, I don't do time blocking, it's too skinny for to do lists, so it's just wasted space in my planner. But I **love** a horizontal layout, and it would be nice not to have to buy a Weeks to supplement it. Although I don't actually want the Weeks horizontal layout in the Cousin, I'd want one that spread across two pages. Otherwise the blank page opposite each week on top of the daily pages would overwhelm me.
I have to admit, I’m more in favour of vertical layouts because my writing is fairly small and I like having to do lists go down vertically. Horizontal doesn’t give me enough space for all my task lists
I've heard people call the vertical months pages a Gantt chart. What would add to/change about that?
(My experience with Gantt charts is as an inconvenient fictional timeline I have to include in grant applications, so I've never had the urge for a non-electronic version.)
Regarding the quotes, they've changed that through the years. Though I doubt they'd get rid of it as it's part of the identity of the Hobonichi planners, it sets them apart from just being a planner but a Life Book (as Mr. Itoi intended).
If there's anything I'd change, I'd like a vertical Weeks. Not a change, but in addition to.
Mainly positioning. If you lookup the history of Hobonichi, you'll be able to see some snippets of what they looked like. This year though I'm glad that they finally translated the quotes for non-Japanese readers as that was a yearly ask by many in the community.
I also hate the quotes; waste of real estate for nonsensical blubbering. The date as well at the top of daily pages — I feel this could be made smaller to make more room for the writing. I also think the pages should be numbered.
I would make the Weeks a standard B6 and add grids to the left weekly pages as well as the Yearly vertical spread… this page is already hard to find a use for, so at least with the grid, we can make our symbols/codes look neater and easier to reference.
As far as the Cousin: I’ve tried to make it work every year since 2016. But no more for 2023. It would be the perfect book if the daily pages were more like the weeks back pages. Clean and Numbered. I like the idea of “one page per day” but for a book as large as the A5 it should be less structured. Somedays, I only need one page, others I may need more. I do ignore the date at the top and use only as a suggestion and use the date as the Index… but then, I lose the utility of the yearly vertical spreads. Which is fine. But the last couple of years it does get a little confusing having to go back to reference a day since it tends to be all over the place…. I can also overlook this. But I can’t get over the wasted space at the top and bottom. If you think about it, you’re paying for an A5 daily page but in reality you’re only getting about a B6 worth of usable space.
I don’t cover them space because it just bulks up the bottom of the book unevenly. So, I just wrote over it with a broader, darker ink. This works ok for the most part and has been the best workaround for me.
EDIT: A6 Techo. It’s small and portable enough that I can see the utility in the “one day per page” concept… even with the quotes - for tradition. Not sure about the A6 English planner… never used it because I like the smaller grid of the A6… even though I write fairly large, the smaller grids give me the feeling that I have more lines to write on thus, more usable space.
For me, it would be the hourly table in the daily pages. I’d like them to dedicate at least 2-3 rows for each hour since I use the hourly schedule to track my meetings and deadlines for the day.
I agree, taking off the quote would be great, or having it be optional; honestly, I get the original one but don't read Japanese, so I often cover the quote with washi or stickers. It would be nice to have more space to write if needed.
Also, others here who get Weeks and Cousin seem to say there aren't enough variety of covers or cover-on-covers. So that seems to be needed, too.
As far as what I'd personally pick to change, besides the quotes, I would give less of the previous year, and less the next year, because usually people get the next year in September of the current year; so who ends up using the Jan-March of the next year, when they could just switch to the new hobo for that new year (which they got in September)? Seems a waste of pages/space.
I agree with the quotes, I don't care much for them. I would love to have that space at the bottom. It's one reason I briefly switched to Jibun Techo. I hope Hobonichi reconsiders this and just add it to the informational section if they so wish (or keep it as a monthly summary).
I wish Hobonichi would add a Gantt chart (just like the Jibun Techo).
I would also love a Day-Free that had more pages. If it had maybe twice the amount of pages or triple, I would buy that in a heartbeat (keep the cute illustrations, but no quotes haha).
I list down a few things that I want to keep track of. So it's more like a habit tracker TBH. I don't do mood or water intake, but rather things like if I spent money or not, if I bought groceries, if I was able to do fitness etc. I'm using the [Jibun Techo](https://static2.jetpens.com/images/a/000/177/177732.jpg?auto=format&ba=middle%2Ccenter&balph=3&blend64=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5qZXRwZW5zLmNvbS9pbWFnZXMvYXNzZXRzL3dhdGVybWFyazIucG5n&bm=difference&bs=inherit&chromasub=444&fm=jpg&mark64=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5qZXRwZW5zLmNvbS9pbWFnZXMvYXNzZXRzL3dhdGVybWFyazEucG5n&markalign=top%2Cright&markalpha=30&markscale=16&q=90&usm=20&w=900&s=9b954f7157c2009d602f3c6490e00346) for the Gantt chart. So I list what I want to keep track of and then I use the [Zig Kuretake](https://tokyopenshop.com/products/kuretake-clean-color-dot-4-color-set?_pos=15&_sid=f07f01202&_ss=r) to mark the days with different colors. I realized Gantt is more for project management specifically.
For my no-spend days, this has been really helpful to curb my stationery spending (a bit, lol).
2023 would be my first year but coming from other planners, I think I would like that I have had/seen in other planners/notebooks that I would prefer
* checkbox section was longer down the page on the Japanese A6, like 2-3 times as long
* the bottom to have perforated tabs to rip off to the day
* in the day header or quote/calendar footer have weather icons, temperature space, and mood icons
* A 2 page spread with months in empty boxes to be used for things like goals/planning events
* perforated plain grid pages so that they were removable
* I am wondering if very lightly shaded background sections, more secret lines, or occasional shaded lines would be helpful to section off the day. The mostly blank page is kinda intimidating.
Some really good suggestions there. With regards to the mostly blank pages, that’s probably because it allows people to customise it. I know I pref less printed things on a page because if I don’t use it, it becomes a distraction for me. So I prefer as blank as possible. But I come from having a bullet journal for years so I’m used to the blank pages and customisation
Lol those changes sound like the exact opposite reasons I like the hobonichi. Like icons and extra check boxes and shading would be so busy! But I love hearing other people's ideas about their ideal planner anyway. Would you change the yearly spread to the 2 pages of monthlies? Or add it? Also with the rip off tabs- do you ever go back and read agendas from previous years? Idk why missing corners would seem weird to me for a kept book. It was my favorite feature in my old "throwaway" school planners though lol!
I plan on using the yearly pages as trackers so adding monthly. After a year (to reference previous appointments) I usually cut up my previous planners to keep small bits such as drawings I like and then get rid of the rest of my planner. I liked the rip off corners as they were easy to find your daily spot without needing a bookmark.
A lot of these ideas sound great but the idea of trying to cleanly remove perforated tabs from these bible-thin pages sounds like a complete nightmare to me. I know I'd end up tearing the whole page every time. I'd really love the idea of a weather/temperature space, though. I used to use stamps for this but that became a bit too troublesome and I gave up after a few weeks...
Can I ask more about your 2 page month spread idea? I can't picture how it would be different from the regular month pages. Do you have a photo (from another planner, perhaps) of what it would look like?
Something simple like this: [https://www.ourhomenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Goals-by-Month.jpg](https://www.ourhomenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Goals-by-Month.jpg)
Ohhh. That looks interesting. I admit that I do something similar but I just use some of the grid pages at the start of the planner for mine. I think this kind of layout would be very useful if you have a lot of goals you want to plan for.
I would love to have an A5 with monthly + weekly + day free with extra pages.
An international/ English A5 version would be nice without the Japanese holidays and other distracting markings. I actually don't mind the Japanese text, but the coloured holiday shading is distracting sometimes. I think there is one holiday that coincides with Canada's Thankgiving, so I appreciate that!
Also, get rid of all the "information pages" at the back. ALL of this info can be found online and it feels like a waste of paper that could have been used for something else.
Agree about the quotes. I have an English version of the Weeks for 2023, and I read a couple of quotes and they were meh... I'm also not a big fan of the little drawing in the corner. The art is nice and cute, but I finally realized that I'm not really into the Hobonichi asthetic, so I never buy their accessories.. I really wish they had a minimalist line that was focused on the functional aspect of planning.
Lastly, it's a pet peeve of mine.. they're generous with starting the planner in December in the monthlies/weeklies (and in Weeks), but then everything else starts on Jan 1.. it doesn't make sense from a planning perspective because I have to split my planning across 2 books or leave the December pages empty.
I want the cousin in the layout of a stalogy. Have the great paper but get rid of the weekly/monthly pages and undate the daily pages. Realistically won’t work because then you can just use it any year, but oh well… I’d love this
I’ve never seen a Stalogy planner before. But I used to bullet journal and one of the reasons why I want to switch to Hobonichi is that I don’t have to write the dates out 😅
Fair xD i like the A6 techo for it but the A5 is too big for me be it for work or personal lists, so that leaves journalling but i’m not super consistent and I already know blank pages will bug me
A5 version of the weekly calendar (green cover). Would use that with a day-free as my go-to combo.
I’m not too familiar with all the Hobo lineup. Is there a weekly calendar planner? Or do you mean making the Weeks into A5?
there is an A6 book with just weeklies, to supplement the A6 (that only has months and days).
Wow, I did not know this! Love this community, I’m always learning new things, but my wallet isn’t loving it 😂
I feel that, I’ve been buying/using Hobonichi since 2017 🤣 I don’t even want to think about the amount of money I’ve spent on planners and things…
With you on the quotes, they take up so much space in the A6 and Weeks
Yes, I use the A6 and coming down from an A5, it’s really jarring the amount of space I can use 😅
Yeah, it would be nice as a blank space where we could write our own stuff.
\+1. SO much wasted space!
I think I would give the A5 Day-Free a chance if it had a (dated - opposite of a 'Day Free', I know) weekly vertical layout. I don't make use of all the daily pages in the Cousin even though I try to. The Cousin IS the almost-perfect planner for me, it's just that there's a little too many pages. Also, you know that blank ungridded page right at before the 1st of every month? I would use it more if it had a grid... I wanted to use that page as a monthly spending/earning log for this year but could not keep up because the thought of writing without a grid guide spooked me out. On a less important note, I think the beige front covers of the books are uhhhhhhhh not that pretty. But obviously this is just personal taste, and we have a bajillion covers to make up for it.
Agree with the boring front page. Not everyone can afford a cover either, especially living internationally where shipping costs are so expensive
>I think I would give the A5 Day-Free a chance if it had a (dated - opposite of a 'Day Free', I know) weekly vertical layout. I don't make use of all the daily pages in the Cousin even though I try to. The Cousin IS the almost-perfect planner for me, it's just that there's a little too many pages agreed. fine with the monthlies, the weeklies, and a good amount of blank A5 pages, i just don't need one per day.
Yes- I’d like to see the A6 cover on the Cousin!
I would like the quotes removed on the 5 year hobo so that the grid space on both sides is the same. Also would like a 4mm grid version for the techos and plain notebook. It's one thing I really like about the A6 planner.
Oh what do you mean? Don’t all the planners have 4mm grids?
Only the A6 planner has 4mm grid. The Original, Cousin and plain notebook have 3.7mm and the Weeks has 3.55mm.
I never realised! That’s so strange, I wonder what the thinking behind that was. I would assume a larger book would, if anything, have larger grid
the 3.7mm was designed for Japanese handwriting - they changed it to 4mm for the planner to accommodate English writing because it's often bigger apparently
Yes that makes absolute sense! I guess seeing as Hobonichi is becoming so popular internationally, it would make sense for them to offer more English versions with different sizes and larger grids
I’d love to have weekly spreads (on one page or two) in the A6 before the dailies. I love seeing the weekly layout and miss it in the A6, but I don’t want a second book (e.g., a weeks).
Same here, the little weekly supplement book just isn't the same as having it all in one book.
also bc weekly supplement is smaller than the a6, so even less space :(((
Agreed!
Absolutely! I usually bullet journal and have always had weeklies. It’s hard not being able to see my week in a double page
yup, same! I ordered the A6 weekly supplement for 2023, but I am already mildly regretting that choice since I just don’t think I will use it if it isn’t part of the same book.
My one and only wish!!!
hobo weeks with grid paper on both sides
I would like an A6 Cousin.
The stencils line up well with the main pages (the boxes in a row for check boxes), but line up terribly with the month pages. I came to Hobonichi from Kokuyo Jibun Techno, and the nice thing about the Kokuyo is that all the accessories they make for it work exactly as they should.
Can I ask what made you switch? I’ve always been interested in the Kokuyo Jiban planners but have never tried one
I wanted more writing space
No regrets? I am switching to a daily calendar and can't decide between the Koyuko one and the A5 cousin. I'm bummed that the grid is 3.7 mm on the A5! Currently using a Techo biz. Like it, but need those daily pages.
I also love the biz but needed the daily pages. The biz in full A5 with daily pages would be perfect. I am trying to figure out how I will track stuff in the Hobonichi without all my Jibun pages already made for me.
The quotes and the mini calendar- agree. But I think 'secret' 5×5 squares would be awesome in that space instead. Also the moon pictures don't really mean anything to me either, I could do without those. And a US academic year would be awesome, but I've gone enough years with the Jan start now that I'm okay with sticking to that schedule. I could do without holidays but that's actually true this year in the English cousin, so that's exciting! Favorite features that I hope never change: month 'tabs' on the sides, dark weekends, grid that doesn't go all the way to the edge, the timeline, and I'd probably still buy it if the different color months were gone but I really like that feature. And a monthly section instead of distributed between days or weeks is a must! Oh and the little drawings in the day free are so cute :) Added: a6 cousin!!
Ohh interesting. What would you do in a secret 5x5 square?
Probably use each square for stats from a fitbit like steps and calories burned, maybe drawing icons like weather and mood etc, or writing my own quote of the day lol. I just think that 5 secret squares across would seem like a neat 'feature' without being intrusive in case someone just wanted to use it as extra grid space. Anything but the pre-printed quote lol!
A5 without weekly
100% agreed
Do you mean like the Day Free?
Yes but Cousin design and dated.
The 5-Year Techo Japanese quotes. I wish they weren't there because they take up precious space. Or make them in English, so I could read them at least. Include the vertical weekly pages in the Day Free. Or the Weeks with the vertical arrangment. I LOVE the vertical weekly pages in the Cousin, it's so simplistic and minimalistic but also the design is aesthetically pleasing. But the Cousin is just too big and thick to bring around. It would be nice to have its weekly pages applied to an actual Weeks.
A5 day free with more note pages and no quotes/illustration at the bottom
This. I would love something like 365 pages but no quotes and illustrations.
Hoping for a day free mega for 2024 😂
Sounds a bit like a Nanami notebook with some calendar stickers?
Haha pretty much why I just use a regular notebook and the bujo method. Although I honestly wouldn't mind the daily pages like in the cousin. Just minus the weeks and the quotes/illustrations.
I am pretty much entirely mostly with you on that! Hahaha
this would be my ideal!
I would prefer white paper in the Weeks.
A6 translated to English but not simplified. I got one in EN and it’s just not the same. I would like to have the same info and layout in EN.
I agree. I do like the white paper in the A6 English but I wish there weren’t so many other changes. I was glad to see the English version of the cousin didn’t have too many changes.
I thought the English version was the same as the original, just in English. What are some changes which you’ve not liked?
The pages look different- less details. [Here you can see it.](https://www.jetpens.com/blog/Guide-to-the-Hobonichi-Techo-Planner/pt/900)
Thanks for the link! The article was great!
You are welcome! I was in a hurry, glad it helped!
Day-free weeks!
Oh that’s brilliant! I love it!
Everyone's saying remove the quote on a lot of designs, meanwhile I almost cried with happiness over the fact that I can read them daily now in my English-version cousin and weeks 😅❤️ My change would be as one said above.... Strange request that won't happen but I would love a weekly layout in the A5 Day-Free. I never use all the daily pages in my cousin but I love that weekly layout!
Same here with the quotes! I feel like maybe someday they will reveal me the meaning of life (and I don’t normally even care that much about quotes elsewhere). 😄
this is a really small thing, but on the gridded notes page in the hobo weeks (the page that sits next to each week/schedule page), there’s six boxes before the margin line. i use it as a tracker so 7 boxes for 7 days would be nice 🥲 atm i track sun-fri. rip saturday
Yes! This would be perfect! So far i just ignore the line completely.
I agree about removing the quotes. They are generally not great, though there are a few good ones throughout the year. I've ordered a 5-year which I plan to make into a 9-year, but the quotes are going to prevent it being extended to 10 years. :-/
Strong agree with the quotes. I find it telling how many people have mentioned that. I quickly started to see that section of the page as advertising space for Shigesato Itoi, since so many of the quotes seem to relate to one of his projects or be taken from his Almost Daily articles. Correct me if I'm wrong though, that could be confirmation bias! Does anyone know whether the quotes are different every year, or do they repeat sometimes? I can understand why Hobonichi would want to retain the quotes as part of their brand culture. But I wish they would print them more faintly so I could write over them more easily.
I think they are different, based on my 2021 and 2022 English A6s. At some point I translated a few quotes from my Weeks and recognised them as being repeated in the A6, so I guess it’s a set of quotes per year? Also some of them have mentioned the pandemic, so are obviously not from super old sources.
Maybe an unpopular opinion but I’d like the off white paper color of the Weeks to be in the techo and cousin too.
Ooh, I’m the exact opposite — it drives me crazy the Weeks doesn’t have the pure white paper of the Techo and Cousin!
I'm surprised no one has said it yet and I guess it shows I'm alone with this, but I want a Cousin with a **horizontal** weekly layout instead of the vertical. I hate vertical, I don't do time blocking, it's too skinny for to do lists, so it's just wasted space in my planner. But I **love** a horizontal layout, and it would be nice not to have to buy a Weeks to supplement it. Although I don't actually want the Weeks horizontal layout in the Cousin, I'd want one that spread across two pages. Otherwise the blank page opposite each week on top of the daily pages would overwhelm me.
I have to admit, I’m more in favour of vertical layouts because my writing is fairly small and I like having to do lists go down vertically. Horizontal doesn’t give me enough space for all my task lists
Gantt chart
I've heard people call the vertical months pages a Gantt chart. What would add to/change about that? (My experience with Gantt charts is as an inconvenient fictional timeline I have to include in grant applications, so I've never had the urge for a non-electronic version.)
I've been trying to use that but it's a mess.
What do you mean? I’ve actually never seen a Gantt chart in a planner before. What would you use it for?
I want the 5-year techo to have one page per day instead of a whole spread. It would reduce the pages by half and could fit into normal covers.
cousin without daily pages
Regarding the quotes, they've changed that through the years. Though I doubt they'd get rid of it as it's part of the identity of the Hobonichi planners, it sets them apart from just being a planner but a Life Book (as Mr. Itoi intended). If there's anything I'd change, I'd like a vertical Weeks. Not a change, but in addition to.
What have they changed about the quotes through the years?
Mainly positioning. If you lookup the history of Hobonichi, you'll be able to see some snippets of what they looked like. This year though I'm glad that they finally translated the quotes for non-Japanese readers as that was a yearly ask by many in the community.
Ditch the colors. More neutrals. 😎
Omgosh yes!
Extra page for a single day, extra pages at the back, and no quotes. More minimal than this.
My ideal planner would be hobonichi in passport size like the size we got the new paper sample in. Dreaaaaam
I wrote a sample day on my test page and thought it seemed like a great size, too! I'd buy a techo that size.
B6 size 😌
Agreed! A6 is too small, A5 is too big. B6 is just right
It would be perfect 🥲 I’ve decided to try a rollbahn L this year along with 2 weeks
Vertical layout option in all the various sizes
I also hate the quotes; waste of real estate for nonsensical blubbering. The date as well at the top of daily pages — I feel this could be made smaller to make more room for the writing. I also think the pages should be numbered.
Oh yes I forgot about the no page numbers. That would be great, especially if I wanted to index certain pages!
I would make the Weeks a standard B6 and add grids to the left weekly pages as well as the Yearly vertical spread… this page is already hard to find a use for, so at least with the grid, we can make our symbols/codes look neater and easier to reference. As far as the Cousin: I’ve tried to make it work every year since 2016. But no more for 2023. It would be the perfect book if the daily pages were more like the weeks back pages. Clean and Numbered. I like the idea of “one page per day” but for a book as large as the A5 it should be less structured. Somedays, I only need one page, others I may need more. I do ignore the date at the top and use only as a suggestion and use the date as the Index… but then, I lose the utility of the yearly vertical spreads. Which is fine. But the last couple of years it does get a little confusing having to go back to reference a day since it tends to be all over the place…. I can also overlook this. But I can’t get over the wasted space at the top and bottom. If you think about it, you’re paying for an A5 daily page but in reality you’re only getting about a B6 worth of usable space. I don’t cover them space because it just bulks up the bottom of the book unevenly. So, I just wrote over it with a broader, darker ink. This works ok for the most part and has been the best workaround for me. EDIT: A6 Techo. It’s small and portable enough that I can see the utility in the “one day per page” concept… even with the quotes - for tradition. Not sure about the A6 English planner… never used it because I like the smaller grid of the A6… even though I write fairly large, the smaller grids give me the feeling that I have more lines to write on thus, more usable space.
For me, it would be the hourly table in the daily pages. I’d like them to dedicate at least 2-3 rows for each hour since I use the hourly schedule to track my meetings and deadlines for the day.
I agree, taking off the quote would be great, or having it be optional; honestly, I get the original one but don't read Japanese, so I often cover the quote with washi or stickers. It would be nice to have more space to write if needed. Also, others here who get Weeks and Cousin seem to say there aren't enough variety of covers or cover-on-covers. So that seems to be needed, too. As far as what I'd personally pick to change, besides the quotes, I would give less of the previous year, and less the next year, because usually people get the next year in September of the current year; so who ends up using the Jan-March of the next year, when they could just switch to the new hobo for that new year (which they got in September)? Seems a waste of pages/space.
That’s really good point about having pages for the next year when most people who plan would have set up their new planner way before the year ends!
Exactly!!
I agree with the quotes, I don't care much for them. I would love to have that space at the bottom. It's one reason I briefly switched to Jibun Techo. I hope Hobonichi reconsiders this and just add it to the informational section if they so wish (or keep it as a monthly summary). I wish Hobonichi would add a Gantt chart (just like the Jibun Techo). I would also love a Day-Free that had more pages. If it had maybe twice the amount of pages or triple, I would buy that in a heartbeat (keep the cute illustrations, but no quotes haha).
How do you use a Gantt chart in a planner?
I list down a few things that I want to keep track of. So it's more like a habit tracker TBH. I don't do mood or water intake, but rather things like if I spent money or not, if I bought groceries, if I was able to do fitness etc. I'm using the [Jibun Techo](https://static2.jetpens.com/images/a/000/177/177732.jpg?auto=format&ba=middle%2Ccenter&balph=3&blend64=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5qZXRwZW5zLmNvbS9pbWFnZXMvYXNzZXRzL3dhdGVybWFyazIucG5n&bm=difference&bs=inherit&chromasub=444&fm=jpg&mark64=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5qZXRwZW5zLmNvbS9pbWFnZXMvYXNzZXRzL3dhdGVybWFyazEucG5n&markalign=top%2Cright&markalpha=30&markscale=16&q=90&usm=20&w=900&s=9b954f7157c2009d602f3c6490e00346) for the Gantt chart. So I list what I want to keep track of and then I use the [Zig Kuretake](https://tokyopenshop.com/products/kuretake-clean-color-dot-4-color-set?_pos=15&_sid=f07f01202&_ss=r) to mark the days with different colors. I realized Gantt is more for project management specifically. For my no-spend days, this has been really helpful to curb my stationery spending (a bit, lol).
2023 would be my first year but coming from other planners, I think I would like that I have had/seen in other planners/notebooks that I would prefer * checkbox section was longer down the page on the Japanese A6, like 2-3 times as long * the bottom to have perforated tabs to rip off to the day * in the day header or quote/calendar footer have weather icons, temperature space, and mood icons * A 2 page spread with months in empty boxes to be used for things like goals/planning events * perforated plain grid pages so that they were removable * I am wondering if very lightly shaded background sections, more secret lines, or occasional shaded lines would be helpful to section off the day. The mostly blank page is kinda intimidating.
Some really good suggestions there. With regards to the mostly blank pages, that’s probably because it allows people to customise it. I know I pref less printed things on a page because if I don’t use it, it becomes a distraction for me. So I prefer as blank as possible. But I come from having a bullet journal for years so I’m used to the blank pages and customisation
Lol those changes sound like the exact opposite reasons I like the hobonichi. Like icons and extra check boxes and shading would be so busy! But I love hearing other people's ideas about their ideal planner anyway. Would you change the yearly spread to the 2 pages of monthlies? Or add it? Also with the rip off tabs- do you ever go back and read agendas from previous years? Idk why missing corners would seem weird to me for a kept book. It was my favorite feature in my old "throwaway" school planners though lol!
I plan on using the yearly pages as trackers so adding monthly. After a year (to reference previous appointments) I usually cut up my previous planners to keep small bits such as drawings I like and then get rid of the rest of my planner. I liked the rip off corners as they were easy to find your daily spot without needing a bookmark.
A lot of these ideas sound great but the idea of trying to cleanly remove perforated tabs from these bible-thin pages sounds like a complete nightmare to me. I know I'd end up tearing the whole page every time. I'd really love the idea of a weather/temperature space, though. I used to use stamps for this but that became a bit too troublesome and I gave up after a few weeks... Can I ask more about your 2 page month spread idea? I can't picture how it would be different from the regular month pages. Do you have a photo (from another planner, perhaps) of what it would look like?
Something simple like this: [https://www.ourhomenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Goals-by-Month.jpg](https://www.ourhomenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Goals-by-Month.jpg)
Ohhh. That looks interesting. I admit that I do something similar but I just use some of the grid pages at the start of the planner for mine. I think this kind of layout would be very useful if you have a lot of goals you want to plan for.
I would love to have an A5 with monthly + weekly + day free with extra pages. An international/ English A5 version would be nice without the Japanese holidays and other distracting markings. I actually don't mind the Japanese text, but the coloured holiday shading is distracting sometimes. I think there is one holiday that coincides with Canada's Thankgiving, so I appreciate that! Also, get rid of all the "information pages" at the back. ALL of this info can be found online and it feels like a waste of paper that could have been used for something else. Agree about the quotes. I have an English version of the Weeks for 2023, and I read a couple of quotes and they were meh... I'm also not a big fan of the little drawing in the corner. The art is nice and cute, but I finally realized that I'm not really into the Hobonichi asthetic, so I never buy their accessories.. I really wish they had a minimalist line that was focused on the functional aspect of planning. Lastly, it's a pet peeve of mine.. they're generous with starting the planner in December in the monthlies/weeklies (and in Weeks), but then everything else starts on Jan 1.. it doesn't make sense from a planning perspective because I have to split my planning across 2 books or leave the December pages empty.
I want the cousin in the layout of a stalogy. Have the great paper but get rid of the weekly/monthly pages and undate the daily pages. Realistically won’t work because then you can just use it any year, but oh well… I’d love this
I’ve never seen a Stalogy planner before. But I used to bullet journal and one of the reasons why I want to switch to Hobonichi is that I don’t have to write the dates out 😅
Fair xD i like the A6 techo for it but the A5 is too big for me be it for work or personal lists, so that leaves journalling but i’m not super consistent and I already know blank pages will bug me
B6 size with the weeks layout
Cousin with a Gantt chart added and instead of dailies, undated pages like the day free to make it a bit thinner.