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Have any of you tried Sanzen's Tomoe River and found that the colour reproduction is completely different between the front and the back of the paper? I was just writing on it with Pilot Iroshizuku Syo-ro & Ku-jaku, and I noticed that both inks look much greener on the backside of the paper than the front. It's so bad that when I compare the back of the page written with Ku-jaku to the front of the page written with Syo-ro, I have to look at the slight difference in saturation to be able to tell the two inks apart. Then when I compare the front of the page written with Ku-jaku to the back of the page written with Syo-ro, they are literally a complete shade(30 degrees on the colour wheel) apart. Comparing Tomoegawa's old TR(or something similarly ink resistant like Kobeha's Graphilo) to Sanzen's TR, the colour reproduction of the old paper seems very close to the front side of the Sanzen paper. The back of Sanzen's paper is much more in line with pretty much any other decent-but-not-godly paper I own, like Rhodia or Kokuyo Sarasara. It really seems like the back of Sanzen's paper is more absorbent than the front. It really looks like some wild inconsistency in the sizing or calendering of the paper that is allowing more of the yellow paper colour to show through the ink on the back.

A lot has been written at this point about Tomoe River Sanzen paper and how it feels and behaves compared to "Original" and "New" 52gsm Tomoe River paper. One thing that is always left out of comparisons is how it behaves compared to 68gsm TR. I recently got a sample size of 68 TR and I really like the tactile feel, its not as grippy or tactile as Leuchtturm paper which I like. To me Leuchtturm paper feels "matte" while 68gsm TR feels more "eggshell" texture. I don't like it more than "New" TR52, which is currently my favorite... SO...For those who have tried Sanzen and 68gsm TR paper, how do those compare in terms of surface texture / feel? Or if you can point me to a comparison that I missed that would be much appreciated.

I just received a Tomoe River 52g A5 size soft journal, as that is what I could currently find. Does anyone produce a larger A4-sized soft journal? Also, is the 5x5 grid the largest available in this paper? It's a bit cramped for my writing style, but it's not the end of the world either. Just wondering. Thanks, Tommy

Contains info about tomoe paper processing. https://www.1101.com/store/techo/en/magazine/contents/feature_tomoerivers/ysmpngg2y.html Plus interview of the Sanzen plant manager. https://www.1101.com/store/techo/en/magazine/contents/feature_tomoerivers/yhk835vke.html Amongst many interesting things: the new paper has the same thickness as the original but weights 47gsm instead of 52 gsm. What a fascinating job they have. Lots of technical talk. I love it.