Japanese notebooks. HEEEEELP

[dedalus]

agreed. it's the apica I have in front of me right now. but truly, i really wish you'd try this other baby!

[Betty]

Oh! I think I saw these notebooks for sale at the Kuniokuniya bookstore here. Next time I go, I will see if I can verify if it is indeed that brand.

[Taki]

Let us know if it's Tsubame!

[Juan in Andalucia]

the only thing I know is that he buys them from a store in tokyo called itoya in Ginza. They are A4 notebooks unmarked, with no name on it, nothing at all. I've looked at the itoya e-store but they don't have it,

 

I got this info from the secretary who says he orders stacks of them in Tokyo and has them shipped to Paris... but now has found another "source" to get them. no idea about the source though...

 

The mistery keeps getting foggier and foggier. and I want one soooo bad.

 

The Apica ones resemble the ones he has but are not quite the same...his notebooks have NOTHING at all written on the cover. NOTHING.

 

Clairefontaine makes some notebooks which might be imilar to the ones you want (no gold lines, though). They're available in tan and black covers with black cloth spines.

 

http://store.alkos.com/clba.html

 

Mines are the black cover. I think superconquerant and miquelrius have similar notebooks too.

 

Juan in Andalucía

 

 

[pingjun]

Hi.

 

Sorry to borrow this thread, Dedalus.

 

Recently, I have bought some Japanese notebooks. The brand is Maruman.

 

How is this brand?

 

Pls advise. Thanks

 

P.J.

[Betty]

Let us know if it's Tsubame!

 

I think I'm pretty sure it is Tsubame. Maybe I should buy 1 to try for myself. Anyone else interested in me helping them buy one if it is indeed Tsubame?

 

I have a question though; are these notebooks comfortable to use? They don't fold into one page...it would seem troublesome to write on the back side.

Edited June 14, 2007 by Betty

[dedalus]

i've never come across that brand, but since you own one you perhaps should tell us how they perform!

 

[dedalus]

Hi.

 

Sorry to borrow this thread, Dedalus.

 

Recently, I have bought some Japanese notebooks. The brand is Maruman.

 

How is this brand?

 

Pls advise. Thanks

 

P.J.

 

i was referring to your message. Sorry.

 

[Taki]

Betty, the notebook should open flat, but your right, won't go back around like spiral bound notebook. I'm not positive but I thought it still went flat against the desk evenDi was using the second page.

 

I used to use Maruman when I was in school (mostly loose leafs), and it was good quality. I liked their pastel-colored papers.

[LouisA]

Great thread. Based on this I have asked a lady I know who works for Continental and flys to Japan once a week to pick me up some of these notebooks.

[Tharmas]

I just ordered some notebooks from Jlist.com. It's my first time to order anything from them but I've been using Japanese notebooks for twenty or thirty years. Don't know if they are really made in Japan anymore. I bought one recently at a Japanese store that was made in Indonesia but the paper quality seemed fine. Anyhow, I ordered four 60 page "A" notebooks that or B4 sized and lines 7mm apart. With shipping from Japan, it was just under 12 bucks.

 

By the way, this website also sells adult stuff so be warned!

 

[Betty]

Came back from the bookstore. It is confirmed that they have the Tsubame notebooks. See pictures below.

 

The paper quality is indeed quite nice...the smoothness and thickness is very comparable to the Rhodia or Clairefontaine papers, but it's not as white. The paper is more of an off-white. Price is not bad as well. The books come in either 80 or 100 pages and it's $6-$8. I'm not sure how many sheets Rhodia notebooks come in though. On the same shelf, they had the Campus notebooks. When you compare them, you can definitely feel the difference between the Tsubame and Campus, though the Campus ones aren't bad either.

 

No test done with fountain pens on these notebooks, but I think Tsubame should be able to uphold it well.

 

Besides taking notes in school, I'm not quite sure what to use these notebooks for though. The size is bigger than a conventional journal and it would feel kind of odd to journal in it to me, and there's no tear-lines if you want to use it for letter writing.

[donwinn]

Came back from the bookstore. It is confirmed that they have the Tsubame notebooks. See pictures below.

 

The paper quality is indeed quite nice...the smoothness and thickness is very comparable to the Rhodia or Clairefontaine papers, but it's not as white. The paper is more of an off-white. Price is not bad as well. The books come in either 80 or 100 pages and it's $6-$8. I'm not sure how many sheets Rhodia notebooks come in though. On the same shelf, they had the Campus notebooks. When you compare them, you can definitely feel the difference between the Tsubame and Campus, though the Campus ones aren't bad either.

 

No test done with fountain pens on these notebooks, but I think Tsubame should be able to uphold it well.

 

Besides taking notes in school, I'm not quite sure what to use these notebooks for though. The size is bigger than a conventional journal and it would feel kind of odd to journal in it to me, and there's no tear-lines if you want to use it for letter writing.

Do you have any contact info for the bookstore? I did a google search and got nada. I like the Apica notebooks, but from what I have read here the Tsubame are far superior, and resonably priced, so I would like to at least try one.

 

Donnie

 

 

[Betty]

Do you have any contact info for the bookstore? I did a google search and got nada. I like the Apica notebooks, but from what I have read here the Tsubame are far superior, and resonably priced, so I would like to at least try one.

 

Donnie

 

Here you go:

 

Kinokuniya Bookstores

www.kinokuniya.com

 

10 W 49th St

New York, NY 10020

(212) 765-7766

 

 

There might be closer branches depending on where you live. I know they have one in San Francisco or Seattle too.

 

[Tricia]

I emailed the store in San Jose, but haven't received an answer (yet). Looks like a trip over the hill for me.

 

 

[extrafine]

By the way, is your boss so intimidating that you can't ask him? My guess is that you'd end up in a situation where you can order them at the same time as he does, and split the shipping, which would be convenient for all involved. You could do it in a backhanded way, like "I love this paper, where do you get it?" or something along those lines. Or maybe your boss isn't like my boss :-). Mine would tell me to get them "for work" and charge them to the company, probably.

 

I've had a colleague adore my Rhodia pad, so I got him one. Not a biggie :-).

[dedalus]

Betty,

 

did you see precisely the ones that were pictured on page 1? Apparently those are the ones with the best quality paper. Let me know,

 

Dedalus

[Betty]

Betty,

 

did you see precisely the ones that were pictured on page 1? Apparently those are the ones with the best quality paper. Let me know,

 

Dedalus

 

You mean this one:

 

http://www.tsubamenote.co.jp/images/tokuA4.jpg

 

No, I didn't see precisely this one. The ones I saw look like the pictures I took. I think your version is possibly the thinner ones, while the ones I saw come in 80 or 100 pages. But the ones I saw are definitely Tsubame though.

[dedalus]

ok, one last question then...in your notebooks is there the watermark in the sheets? EXTRAFINE and the globe logo?

 

Dedalus

[Betty]

ok, one last question then...in your notebooks is there the watermark in the sheets? EXTRAFINE and the globe logo?

 

Dedalus

 

I have the slightest idea. Sorry.