This review has been a long time coming. I find myself almost to the end of my first Apica Journal, and I want to share with you guys my take on these great skinny journals with fantastic paper.

I found out about these journals through an earlier post requesting a Smythson alternative- Jsonewald tipped me off to Apicas. The goal- a thin paper that takes FP ink well. [I had previously focused on thick paper that was excellent, but thin now attracted me for some strange reason.] Of course this was one of the nice aspects of the Smythson blue paper, although horribly expensive. [I'll hopefully get to Smythson in a future post.]

The Apica journals that I have are the CD series- in specific, I purchased (if I remember this right) the CD5, CD11 and CD15.

It's hard to explain just how thin and floppy these notebooks are. I thought at first I would hate them because of it, but I quickly found the thinness of the notebooks to be a wonderful advantage. It would easily slip into a bag that was stuffed to the gills, or my slim computer bag where only a lightly used file-folder would fit. After writing in it the first few times, I was hooked. The paper inside is wonderfully smooth. It's not as smooth as Triomphe, but it's much smoother than BnR and Miquelrius, etc. At least to my touch it feels this way. [Please feel free to get me to recheck this if you are wondering before purchasing yourself.] I loved the paper so much, I switched over to using the larger CD15 notebook for my everyday work notebook as I made notes on my calculations and writing.

I think there is a slight difference in paper between the larger notebook (CD15) and the mid-size (CD11). The CD11 seemed to have a slight bit of bleed and seethrough with wet nibs. The day I took these I had only written in the 11, so I'll have to take some more tomorrow from my work notebook, the CD15. It has no discernable feathering and no bleedthrough that I can see.


Apica journals weren't very easy to track down. I found only 3 places that sold Apica journals online. They were as follows:

The Daily Planner (Apica Section)
AsianFoodGrocer.Com (I think most are made by Apica on this page, but I can't be sure.)
TaylorsInTheRockies on Ebay

Being a poor grad-student, I took my chances with ebay after asking a few questions of the seller. [Disclaimer- I'm not associated with her in any way- just a very happy customer.] TaylorInTheRockies turned out to be another lover of Apica notebooks. She loved them so much she decided to import them because they were so hard to find over here.

All in all, I loved this first notebook so much that I'll have to buy a number of them just so I won't go without in the future. So, a hat-tip to Jsonewald for telling me about Apicas!

I'm sorry if the pics aren't that good- I don't have a light tent.

I'll take a few more pictures today in good light to show the backsides of the test pages and also the thickness and page count etc. in comparison to a moleskine.

Update coming soon!
-Allen

I'm glad the tip worked for you. I was turned on to Japanese paper by my wife, who was born in Tokyo. Every Japanese made paper I have is at least good with fountain pens, most are really, really good.

If you like these, try tracking down a Japanese ring binder. They are multi-ring, with a pitch similar to what we see in wire spiral bound books. The rings are smaller diameter, typically 1/2 to 3/4 inch. The standard size is slightly larger that 8 1/2 X 5 1/2.

Thanks for the review! I've looked at these over on The Daily Planner but never bought any. I may indulge myself soon.

Thanks for the review.
I've been using Apica notebook for a while now and they are my favorite. I carry a small CD-5 in my shirt pocket all the time and I use the bigger 5B4 (10.5x14.8 cm) for daily writing. The quality of the paper is simply amazing, no bleed through, etc.

My source of Apica is Nota Bene in Montreal, they will soon sell them on the internet http://www.nota-bene.ca
Russel is waiting for a big shipment of Apica, I cannot wait, but I still have five 5B4, but I'm up to my last CD-5.

I strongly recommend this brand, a real pleasure.

Samovar

Thank you very much for the nice review. Apica is one of the most popular notebook manufacturer in Japan, and I used mnay of their notebooks from grade school to university years. Never used with FP's, but nice to know that they are FP friendly

Ha ha ha! Great to see so many other FP users have found out about Apica notebooks!

I really need to scan in those pages as I mentioned, but it's late, and my SO is asleep, so I can't get to it this evening. But, will do so- I'm putting a post-it on the computer to remember. The CD15 I use for work has absolutely no bleedthrough that I've experienced (with the possible exception of sitting the nib on the paper for a number of seconds- but I doubt any paper would survive that). It's wonderfully smooth.

Samovar- Interesting- the 5B4 notebook, eh? Is that the one which has 100 pages- the thicker version? Still floppy cover and clothbound edge? Those little CD5 notebooks are cute and useful- I agree! I am still stuck on 3x5's, but might have to seriously consider a CD5 in the shirt-pocket- great idea!

Taki- The paper is fantastic! You've got to try your FP's in some if you still have a few lying around home!

Thanks for the thoughts, guys, I really appreciate it! Sorry I jumped the gun on my comment immediately after my post. I'll be back with more images of the paper- the ruling is really interesting on the larger notebook- well, perhaps it's a Euro-Asian standard. I don't get out much. ha ha ha. My best, guys! Thanks for the smiles today with your replies!!
-Allen

The 5B4 is indeed 100 pages, I don't know if it's thicker, but the cover is floppy.
I find the small CD5 better than a Rhodia pad to carry in my shirt pocket, kindda slim and pretty resistant to daily usage.

Samovar

The 5B4 sounds perfect. I've only tried the thinner ones before and the paper is terrific. Where did you buy the 5B4 notebooks? I didn't seen them on any of the sites mentioned.

You can get the 5B4 at Nota Bene in Montreal. Russel Hemsworth is setting up his website and I'm sure he will accomodate you if you send him a message at dakar@qc.aibn.com
He told me that he can ship to the US.

Note Bene will soon distribute the Whitelines journal from Sweden. I saw a sampler and it's a beauty, the paper is greyish and the lines are white. http://www.whitelines.se/eng/ I wrote in it with my Densho with no bleeding.

Samovar

Hi guys!

One half of an update tonight- the scans of the CD15 front and back. The only one with any bleed is the B nibbed TrueWriter in this test. The others have some see-through (the paper is quite thin), but no bleeding. BTW, the ink was a bit dry on a few of those- the skipping is not due to the paper.




Margana- one of the notebooks I hope to check out Taylorsintherockies also sells- it's a 100 sheet 7x10" notebook, clothbound like the CD series... 6A10 is the model number I believe. I'll be adding that to my next order. Although, I'm really lovin' the thinner notebooks for ease of carry.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!! thanks for telling us about Notebene and the larger notebooks, Samovar!!
-Allen

ps- sorry for the color issues- the legal lapis and hunter green really doesn't make it through very well.

Found it here. Very tempting...

One last one for you guys- it's a thickness comparison between the larger Moleskine ruled and the CD15 I like to use. Sorry about the focus on this one, I only took one shot, and didn't blow it up before deciding not to take more.



If I try out any of the others, I'll let you know! Again, tip of the hat to jsonewald for telling me about these Apicas!!
-Allen

I'm always on the lookout for good, fountain-pen friendly notepads and after reading through the rave reviews of Apica, I just couldn't resist getting a few. Ended up getting an assortment of 23 notepads from "Taylorsintherockies." My emails were promptly answered, and Molly Taylor is simply wonderful to deal with. I can't wait for the notepads to arrive.

Wow- Seikoguy! Let us all know how you like 'em! I'm really interested in whether there's a difference from batch to batch, or say between the smaller and larger. The difference in paper between the large and the small is minor, so I can't be sure I'm seeing any at the moment.

I guess my orders may pale in comparison.

Cheers!
-Allen

Well, I, errr, got a little carried away when I was picking/choosing the notepads. I was up to 15 already when I read that a discount was to be had on the shipping charges if one bought 20 notepads. I ended up at 23. Anyhoo, I did order a couple of those 100-sheet 6A10 that you mentioned just to check them out. My thanks to you for the fine review, and for posting those pics. Err, my wallet thanks you too.

just a quick question: are all apica notebooks plain ruled paper or are they available in blank and/or squared?

Hi Latro!

Ha- that's an excellent question! The ones that I have seen are all ruled... no plain or squared... but, I certainly don't know everything about these Apica journals... that's for sure. I think there's a website for the company somewhere (of course all in Japanese)...

Apica's Japanese Site
Google's Translation

Sorry I don't know the answer off-hand!
-Allen

ps- it looks like Apica makes a ton of stuff... but it may be hard to find various books/looseleaf etc., over here.

thanks allen. i think you are right in that from what i can tell, apica does make squared and blank notebooks but i only see them on their website. im assuming that the style of notebooks available from taylorsintherockies on ebay are all plain ruled, which isnt that big a deal since it sounds like these are good cheap notebooks.

i really wish i woulda had time to ask my grandma and cousin to look for these notebooks [not to mention a black stealth VP] while they were in Japan but it was too late [the just got back on saturday]. unfortunately i wasnt able to go back to Japan again with them this time, otherwise i woulda been hitting up all the stationery stores i could manage. no matter, next time i go back ill be sure to do just that before meeting up with the family in Moji-ko as per the usual routine.

Hey Latro!

Oh, yes, I should have mentioned that from what I can tell of TaylorsInTheRockies' current ebay offerings, it appears she may not have any that are blank or square ruled. [If I chat with her and hear differently, I'll come back and post.]

It's interesting how many different products that Apica makes and are likely available somewhere in Japan. Ton of stuff! My guess is that if you were to hit up even a normal store that carried note-books you'd find some. Since it appears more Japanese and Chinese are familiar with fountain-pens, it's quite likely that most Asian countries produce papers that are excellent with Ink. Since Apica seems to be a larger producer, this might hold true for other Japanese paper companies. Should be interesting to find some and try them out.

One of the reasons I went on Ebay was the cost... they're not horribly cheap, but the paper is excellent. I have noticed that it depends a bit upon the moisture content in the air. The other day was a bit muggy, and the paper was performing a bit differently, not horrible, just not the same as during December etc. So, the seasons likely alter our paper behavior as well. I'll have to do some tests when things get really really muggy.

How cool that you may have an opportunity to do more pen-related shopping in Japan in the future!! Totally awesome. Hope your Grandmother and Cousin had a great time!! One of these days I hope I can go there as well!
-Allen

Well, my order from Molly Taylor of "taylorsintherockies" arrived today and I'm more than pleased! Thanks to Allen for his post, I've now discovered writing paper that has easily met my expectations, and then some. I bought an assortment of notepads, and Molly was kind enough to even include a few extra complimentary samples for me to try. (Thanks, Molly! ) I could not resist getting a couple of the 100-sheet 6A10 notepads mentioned in the first post and tried it with a small selection of my favorite daily writers (all Japanese, I might add!) that were loaded with an assortment of ink by Private Reserve, Waterman, Pelikan, Noodlers and J.Herbin.

From left to right, Danitrio "Mae West" polished ebonite, Pilot Bamboo, Platinum Very Presidential, Pilot Custom 823 and Sailor Rhodium Professional Gear.



Ok, at first glance, the photo below might appear to be a pic of a blank page. Err well, you're right. It is! I had filled up the previous page with loads of scribbling and doodling with the pens above. When I turned the page over, I was surprised at the complete lack of bleedthrough. If you were to click on my photo and examine the fullsize image, you can see the physical impressions that my pen nibs made on the page, but no bleedthrough. The pens also wrote wonderfully on the smooth paper, putting down ink with just the weight of the pen alone, nary a skip. I didn't notice any feathering either.



Yup, I'm happy!

Very cool! I may have to pick up some of these.

Fantastic!!! Really glad you liked your purchase. I'm also glad to have the other inks and pens tested out on the paper- nice to see the paper is good with a variety of inks.

Your pictures are wonderful also, Seikoguy!
-Allen

yea, they had a good time there. it seems a lot has changed since i was there last with regards to my family, but all in all things are well. their only gripe was how much more packed the train cars are now that there are the women-only cars.

Thanks, Allen. Glad I could contribute. I am also surprised that the heavier 60-lb bond paper that Levenger uses on their premium pads experience enough bleedthrough that I won't ever use both sides of it, whereas this thinner and lighter Apica paper can easily be used on both sides. Heck, I just doubled my savings!

Interesting to hear your experience also! I just recently picked up another Levenger pad (letter sized) to jot some notes in a meeting this week (quick carry)... and noticed as soon as I started writing a lot of bleed. It's not horrible, but it's not great either. So, I'm glad to have tried the Levenger pad again. Apica's paper certainly is fantastic- yes, it's quite thin, but you're absolutely right- the bleed is almost nothing- only if I rest the tip on the page for a while or use an extremely wet writer have I noticed an issue. Glad to have my experience confirmed by at least one other person!

Molly's a great gal also! Will be guying from her in the future!

I hope you're having a great weekend, Seikoguy (and everyone else in the thread)! I'll let ya know when my newer 100page journal comes in.

Cheers!
-Allen

(who's still a bit envious at the gorgeous pictures you take, seikoguy!)

I just bought the smallest of these from Flax in SF in February. I decided on the smallest because I didn't want to invest in more notebooks that end up in the give-away drawer, and because it looked cute. After reading all the rave, I can't wait to put pen to it.

I purchased a few of the journals from taylorsintherockies on eBay, and have been very happy. I carry a mini in my pants pocket, and it is VERY FP friendly. The larger ones (don't remember off hand which) are equally friendly to FPs. I use a variety of Waterman cartridges, Parker cartridges, no name cartridges, and Noodler's la Coleur Royale fueled pens of varying brands and quality, and all are handled by the Apicas with equal aplomb. Money well spent.

Donnie in Little Elm TX

Man, I shouldn't browse 'back in time' here.

That's more notebooks to buy, as if I didn't have enough already!

Hi guys!

Man, long time no read in FPN- I am a daily user, however, so my heart's still here. I just have been so swamped with work, I haven't been able to do anything else.

I wanted to add a comment on the 6A10 series of notebooks (the thicker notebooks -v- the CDxx series). I recently got some (again from ebay). They are slightly different than the larger CD series notebooks. I've noticed that the paper is a very light grey-blue (perhaps more blue than grey)... it's not exactly white. At least, not as white as the CD series notebooks. This may or may not matter to you, but just thought I'd mention it. I notice more variation in color as well, with some coloring of fibers being different than others. *However*- they have the same wonderful smooth paper and little to no bleedthrough. I'm amazed at how thin the paper is and how little bleed through occurs, there is of course see-through when a light is behind the paper.

So, I'm happy to report that the 6A10 thicker books are going well for me (like Seiko Guy) as well as the smaller CD series books. [I'll have to revisit the medium and small size to see if there is a different quality to the paper... I can't remember off-hand since it's been so long ago.]

The thicker 6A10 also has a Table of Contents as the first page. I usually make this myself with the first couple pages, so it doesn't matter much to me, but thought I'd mention it.

All in all, I'm still loving the Apicas for FP use, and have filled a couple of them already since I first purchased them in the spring. Thankfully I have bought more, so I have a small stock-pile for the near future.

Glad you guys are enjoying them as well!! My best to everyone on the board!!
-Allen
[who will soon be back on FPN as soon as he can find the time!]

OK folks! I have read so many sterling comments about Apica, that I have ordered several for my use. I long to be a convert!

Hmm. taylorsinth... won't ship to the UK for me, so I need to find another source that will. DailyP won't, either. Google found me a French seller, but their prices, and especially shipping, are a bit much for a couple of skinny notebooks.

ANybody Stateside up for selling me a couple (or more) of CD11s?

Hey a11en~

Are you the Princeton student that's mentioned in taylorintherockies' description of the notebooks? I just bought a few notebooks to try out based on this thread about how great these notebooks seem to be~ Will using these get me into Princeton?

Anybody know why taylorintherockies stopped shipping to Canada all of a sudden? I didn't want to bother them by asking, but I finally saved up enough to order some (used to ship to Canada) and then I go to order and no more shipping outside of the US. Thanks.

Kath

Kath -- I stocked up on taylorsintherockies offerings on eBay. I have more than I could ever possibly use. Let me know which ones you want in PM and I'll ship it to you when I get around to catching up in my snail mail correspondences.

Best,
Kate

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly state that, in addition to being a darn good ink reviewer, Kate is one of the most thoughtful people here. Not just because she is offering to help me with my Apica shortage, but in general, she is a level headed, kind person.

Kathryn

I've got an order in with Taylor's that is being shipped to a mate of mine who is in the US at the moment. Hopefully he will be bringing them back in about 2 weeks as I am looking forward to trying these out!

Had a tough time finding Apica in Canada. Found out Papeterie Nota Bene now has it. Pricier than Ebay though.

Hi Fountain Penners. Molly here, (taylorsintherockies@msn.com) from Take Note Writing Gear, an eBay biz. I'll ship wherever you want me to if you tell me you're from this network. The prices to ship internationally just went skyhigh and I am reluctant to offer them. It makes my overall product prices appear extremely high as eBay is now posting a combined price, shipping plus merchandise. So, when you order, don't select "Pay Now." I'll send you an invoice with the correct shipping added. Please give me an extra day or two because I'll need to go to the Post Office to get the price. For my US shipments, I can print the postage at home. Lastly, I am considering listing a hard bound Apica twin spiral notebook. Would any of you find that interesting? Same great paper. The shipments from Japan are expensive since the weight is high. I have been debating carrying them. Thanks again for your patience, business and consideration. Molly at Take Note (an eBay store)

If you order from Notabene, just make a big order to make it worth the shipping cost. Paper is a very expensive product to import and ship
Call his toll free number, the owner is a pleasure to deal with

I'm testing a new Arbos note book from Italy made with Recycled paper, so far it's amazing... I'll post a review soon

Contacting you for shipping outside the CONUS and the spiral-bound both seem like great ideas to me Molly and I am pretty sure that others on this forum from far-flung shores will be very pleased that you have posted this!

Thanks very much!

IANAN

That's not so bad. I bought some Apica notebooks at Laywine's (Toronto) two years ago. Nota Bene's prices are much less (one-third to one-half?) than what I paid.

I love Apica.

If you live in a city with a large Japanese population, (like my home town of San Jose, or here in Los Angeles), look for Kinokuniya bookstores (sp?). My local one has tons of Apica, and other stuff, and another notebook that's from the same manufacturer as Apica, and has blank pages that are of slightly lower quality. And they come in regular, and big-ass-300 page versions, too.

-thi

Hi guys!

First- I'm not the Princeton student- I go to the U of I (IL) and use the Apicas almost exclusively for all my research notes etc., as I write my Thesis and finish up all my work here. I do use a different lab-book (larger than 8.5x11) which incidentally has wonderful paper- a hold over from the years before my FP use. Luckily the paper is quite good and I can still paste in my larger full-sheet reports etc as needed. Unfortunately, Apica use doesn't make you smarter. Believe me I've tried everything to make me smarter!! Lord knows I could use it! [There are days when I'm just sure I must be a complete idiot.] But, one thing is for sure- you're smart to pick any paper that you enjoy using your FP with, that doesn't hurt your nibs, and that takes ink well. So... in a round about way, you must be smart if you read FPN's paper forum. hahaha

Second- I wanted to mention that the double-spiral notebooks are quite nice!! They have the same wonderful paper that makes Apica notebooks just amazing to write in (why I now use them as much as possible in all my work). The paper does seem to be slightly darker in color again... but I need to compare it to the 6A10 notebook. While I usually don't like notebooks with spiral bindings etc. (which is a slight change from my norm of old), there is one fantastic thing about the spiral book(s)... the pages will rotate all the way around to the back, allowing completely flat notebook writing. That's one wonderful thing. With the normal binding, I usually have to have the books open (to save the spine)... I will have to use the spiral binding a bit more to see if it's something to change over to.

Third- I hope to have some images for you guys soon along with my normal Noodler's ink tests (sorry I use Noodlers with few exceptions). It hasn't been too pretty outside yet, so I haven't been able to get snapshots yet.

BTW, Molly is a joy to purchase from; always kind, and I've never been upset with any purchases with her, or shipping etc. [Items get in the mailbox very quickly!] I'm glad to hear that she's going the extra mile for anyone on FPN, I love this place, and the paper is fantastic. I'm glad the Apicas can get to anyone who wants them. They're fantastic. [I guess you know I'm sold. ]

Molly is on FPN as you can see above. I'm trying to get her to post some in the Marketplace. Let her know if you'd like to see any posts from her there (she might enjoy the positive notes). I think maybe FPN is a bit confusing or big- we'll see if we can't get her to make some posts for sales etc. [I believe that's appropriate/o.k., right?]

Ok, I better run for now. Sorry that my postings are so far apart these days. Please get in touch via FPN mail if you want me to send you a sample of paper in the mail. I think I've got enough for a few sheets if there are reasonable amounts of requests- I'll cut them out of one of my books. [might be wanting to trade for some onion-paper sheets if you happen to have one or two ]

Chat with you soon, guys! Wishing you joy in all your writing!
-Allen

GREAT paper for FPs! Picked up a couple of CD-15's today at Artlite (not connected, just satisfied) here in Atlanta today. Very nice. Thanks for the head's up.

Lol~well, it was worth a try? And thanks for the ego boost ! I'm waiting for those Apicas to arrive!

Hi All,

My girlfriend and I are extremely happy repeat customers of Molly's eBay store (Molly, glad to see you here!). The notebooks are marvelous, and Molly is a pleasure to deal with.

Two enthusiastic votes in favor of adding the twin-spiral notebook to the range.

Cheers,

Jon

Hi guys,

I have done the ink-test on these, (with my limited selection), but don't have pics of the ink test yet. The paper takes ink wonderfully. Just like the other Apica notebooks I've tried. No bleedthrough, no feathering, and a bit of see-through.

I thought I'd add in the few photos I have of the twin-spiral (which I call "wire-bound" on my flickr stream)...



The outside is quite nice- hard-board front and back, enables writing on the fly (in hand standing up)- this is quite difficult to do with the very floppy CD series books.



The paper is what I would call "cream" or "ivory" colored, not white like the CD series. So, the 6A10 thick floppy book has a blue-tint, the CD-series, is a good white, and the Double-Spiral has a cream/ivory color. The spirals appear as "401G" and "501G" on the back cover. One of the funny thing about the journal is the script "personal" below NOTE BOOK on the front cover. Likely they should have left that off, or kept it blank like the CD series. But, that's some of the joy of having a Japanese journal... after all, "Most Advanced Quality Gives Best Writing Features & Gives Satisfaction To You."

Sorry the images aren't so great, I've been having trouble getting good shots due to the winter sun.

Hope your week is going well!
-Allen

Allen,

Many thanks for your review. Based on the comments in this thread, I just ordered a small batch of the 6A10 notebooks from Molly. Will post a review after I've had a chance to use them for a while.

As a side note: I just accepted a new job in NYC. When I went up to interview, I arrived a little early and had some time to kill. I decided to stroll around the block, just to see what was nearby. Wouldn't you know it: A Kinokuniya is literally right around the corner from the place. I'm looking forward to giving them some of my money.

Thanks again for the review/thread.

-Mark