Moleskine are so popular, but I've found a competition for them. It's from a japanese company called Kokuyo. Here's some pictures I took of the 2 competing books

Both have that rubberband that holds the book closed



How the books look opened. You can't tell from the photo, but the japan book's pages are lime green (available in also blue, red, and yellow). There are also perforated edges for clean ripping of pages. I also love that the book is a spiral.

Folders at the back of the book. I like how the Japan book has a plastic pouch.


Comparison shot


Price - I brought the 2 books a while ago, but I know the japan book was almost half the price of a moleskine. The pages are also thicker than a moleskine too.

Thanks for the pictures... It looks like they would be worth trying!. BTW...was that a red Parker 45 FP in the picture?

Where did you purchase the Japenese notebook? What kind of paper is in the notebook compared to a Moleskine? I like Clairefontaine and Rhodia, do yo know how it compares with those?

Lots of questions I know, but I'm interested in finding good quality notebooks with good paper. I also like the colored pages.

Yup, it's a red Parker 45. I brought it from Richard Binder Very good very WET writer!

I brought it at the Kinokuniya (spelling ?) bookstore here in NYC. It's a Japanese bookstore that sells some japanese imported notebooks and pens. If you need help purchasing, I can help you purchase and then you paypal me back.

The paper is a bit thicker than Moleskine and almost comparable in terms and thickness and smoothness to Rhodia, though Clairefontaine is smooth I think. I'm not sure how it'll take fountain pen ink though since I haven't written on it yet. I don't like to use fountain pens to write on my small notebooks anyway because no matter how fine the fountain pen is, it's always thicker than regular gel pens that I like to write with on the small notebooks.

Thanks for the pictures. That green one is really pretty.

Kinokuniya's list of "brick and mortar" stores outside of Japan is

http://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/english/contents/network04.html
.

I had fun shopping in the Los Angeles store a few years ago (it's necessary to park in the garage underneath the mall). The staffpeople were courteous and helpful, even though they were very busy.

Kinokuniya doesn't regularly stock fountain pens. I did see a few boxes of bottles of Pilot brand fountain pen ink. If it's the same as the Namiki brand ink, I can get it from the Vroman's store here in Pasadena.

Dear Mr. Goodwhiskers,

Have you had any luck hunting for pens in L.A.'s Chinatown?

Laurence

This is thread drift, sorry, but I went into Kinokuniya in Sydney recently and found, lurking near the Design books and the manga, a copy of Charles H. Beeson, _A Primer of Medieval Latin_ which, as it happens, was just the sort of thing I was looking for. Good bookshop.

Michael

Sorry.

With that spiral bind, it'll never compete with a Moleskine.

I love that spiral binds lie flat, but they're a stone bitch to get in and out of a small pocket.

I'm sticking with Moleskines.

Same here. The only problem with Moleskine's is their price. Other than that, for me, they are a perfect as a notebook can be. I know that this sounds a bit hyperbolic. But consider a spun, for instance, how much can you tweak the basic design?

If Moleskine had a pen loop and good paper, I'd never use anything else.

Sonia, you should try the new ones. The paper is very, very different. No feathering, even if you use a paint-brush of a nib. As for the pen loop, check this site: Moleskine Hack.

Is this new superior paper in all their models? I pretty certainly couldn't resist one if they were certain to work OK with FPs.

Michael

The new/better paper sounds great but how do you know that's what you are buying?

Margana

Somewhere I posted a pic of the front and back of about a dozen different FPs & inks on moleskine paper. Alot of what I think might be considered feathering/ bleedthrough is just that the paper is thin and you can see through it. Except for a bold nib I really haven't had FP problems.

But

that's just my experience and there have been several people who had the opposite experience so your milage might certainly vary. In any case the moleskine does make a nice pocket book to be able to jot down a quick note with a pencil or BP/ RB

K

I got some new Cahiers that were an improvement, but clairefontaine they were not.

As I posted in another thread, the pocket Moleskine I just bought really bled through with almost all inks I tried except for Aurora Blue. It wasn't just an illusion: the ink really spread through the paper and started to feather on the other side. The paper is very thin, which I guess is a good thing if you want a lot of pages in a thin notebook. But not so good for fountain pens.

I have to agree with Tara. The Spirals drive me crazy. Not only do they catch, but if you ever bend a few of those metal spirals, it is very difficult to open flatly. Everyone wants to imitate, but I'm still sold on Moleskine.

I've written in my Moleskines with my wettest firehose nibs (Bexley Sheherazade broad and my Pelikan 800 broad) and had a little spot bleedthrough.

Nothing that made reading difficult, and I write on front and back.

I do use a piece of blotter paper as a bookmark and backer as I write and that seems to cut down on the amount of bleed through.

My current favorite is a Stipula Etruria Nuda with a fine nib (read, medium nib) with Noodler's Legal Lapis. Very little bleedthrough.

I will say that my Moleskines did not do well with very fine or toothy nibs.

The few of that ilk that I've tried have bled and feathered like mad.

You shld take a look at these from 'Paperblanks' ... They are great, high quality journals . I bought this second one from Kinokuniya in Singapore. The acid-free archival quality paper is thick and doesn't bleed thru. I bought this one bcos its unique, tall and slim. and has a magnetic clasp for closure. pretty neat. (just rememebr to keep magnetic cards away from it ! ) Price comparable to Moleskines.

Also has back pocket on inside flap.

My first one was handstitched type and it was really good for writing comfortably. Opens real flat and stays there.

I have to agree the spiral bind is not in the same league.

Moleskine shld sit up and pay attention to feedback concerning their bleeding paper quality. Many pple who appreciate Moleskines are finding alternatives bcos of the bleeds.

I want the Sketchbooks by Paperblanks very much, but they don't sell it here. (maybe sold out ?) Just the right size.

Only few brands make quality journals , most suitable to pple like us FPNers here. This is one of them.

After hearing so much, I have yet to see or touch one Clairefontaine where I live. Sigh.

shoots..... here's the link ...

http://www.paperblanks.com/whats_new/oldleatherslim.htm

I'm not crazy about the spiral journals because the spiral gets in the way of my hand when I'm writing on the page to the left of the spiral. That's why I'm a Moleskine fan - the stitched binding makes writing comfortable. And, I'm happy to say, I haven't had any bleeding problems.

I have used the Kokuyo notebooks for journals, and the paper is good for fountain pens. Not as smooth or thick as Clairefontaine, but I've never had a bleedthrough or feathering problem.

As for the spirals, I like being able to fold my notebooks back, into a small space on the table, so I actually prefer them to perfect bound books. It's all a matter of personal taste, I suppose. (And the fact that I carry my journals in bags, not in pockets, so personal taste and practicality.)

I have used a Moleskine notebook for just that.....notes! I use it in place of all the little scraps of paper, napkins, 3x5 cards, etc. that I used to jot something down and cram it in my pocket only to lose it later. It's very useful for that (although pricey).

Because of the impromtu nature of my notebook use, I write with whatever FP and ink I happen to have at the moment. It sounds like others have experimented to find an ink that works best with their notebook, but I do not have the luxury of using just one designated ink/pen combination for optimum results.

As I result I have used the Moleskine "sketch book" to minimize bleed through. However, the paper does not seem to absorb ink well, and it takes a LOOOONG time to dry. Given the nature of how I use the notebook (a quick, fast note), I really can't wait for it to dry. I therefore have the opposite page filled with ink splotches. I only write on the front of each page.

My ideal notebook would be:

Very FP friendly with a wide variety of inks/pens.
Pocket-friendly (small and bound, rather than with a spiral spine)
Conservative looking
Has the elastic band
Has the document pocket


Anyone know of anything that fits the bill here?

I have no solutions to offer, unfortunately. I use the lined pocket Moleskine notebook in just the same way, except that I tend to write on one side of the page because of the bleed-through, rather than the splotches. However, the pages are pretty thin, which makes them more numerous and means that even with one-sided use, this notebook is going to last a while.

Competition is a relative term. For me the spiral binding is not a feature that I would buy. I prefere bound with papers sewn in sections. Second, how does one rate the paper. I find moleskin unacceptable and prefer clairfontaine, eureka, or Moquel Ruis. I don't buy Ruis, however, because their binding is pasted and pages break loose. I also use surveyin field books, which generally have higj quality paper, tend to fit in the pocket, and come in various covers and bindings.