JetPens Kanso Noto Notebook A5 Dot Grid: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

The JetPens exclusive Kanso Noto Notebook comes in four colors: black, dark green, navy blue, and deep purple. It's an A5-size notebook with 52gsm Tomoe River Paper in a dot grid format.

The notebook is simple with cardstock covers, a sewn binding, and a taped spine. There are no extras, such as page numbers, an index, or ribbon bookmarks.

It has 320 pages (front and back) of dot grid paper. The dots are a light grey color--so light they are a little difficult to see except in bright light.

The cardstock covers are easily bent. In fact, my notebook already had creases when I opened it. If you don't want this notebook to get beat up in your book bag, you might want to put it in an A5 cover.

Tomoe River Paper is best known for being smooth, thin, and fountain-pen friendly. Inks are displayed at their very best on this paper, which brings out shading and sheening properties.

I tested ten fountain pens in this notebook. As expected, all the inks worked well with the paper. There was no bleeding and no bleed through; however, because of the thinness of the paper, show through is quite visible.

I used Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo in my Nakaya with a medium flex stub nib to write out a longer passage. You can see good shading properties in the writing sample. Again, show through is obvious, so you may not want to write on both sides of the paper.

I love doing ink swatches on Tomoe River Paper. There's just nothing quite like it to bring out the qualities in various inks. I tested ten inks from different manufacturers in the notebook. All the swatches are vivid (though the cream color of the paper may mute them slightly), and pooling, sheen, and shading are dramatic. I did my swatches with a paintbrush, so they were quite wet and some did bleed through to the other side.

Tomoe River Paper is now ubiquitous, being used in notebooks from many manufacturers. It's good to have options. If you want a simple notebook at a decent price ($19.00) the Kanso Noto is a good choice. Although JetPens is currently out of stock, you can sign up to be emailed when the notebook is back in stock.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Tomoe River Kanso B5 Notebook Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

Tomoe River paper is something really special that took the stationery world by storm a few years back. It's extremely thin paper that is able to handle a ridiculous amount of ink without bleeding through or feathering across the page. It's a fantastic paper formula, and it's no wonder that everyone wants to get their hands on this stuff. In the beginning, it was difficult to come by, but that's a problem of the past for the most part.

The latest paper product that I've tried that uses Tomoe Paper is Tomoe's own Kanso Notebook. This is a plain B5 notebook with a clean thread binding and 30 sheets of beautiful 52gsm Tomoe River paper. You can also get this notebook in a cream color paper, but the one I have uses bright white paper.

As far as notebook specs go, this one is pretty plain. There is absolutely zero branding on this notebook. The covers are plain white with no words, graphics. or debossed logos. The binding tape is plain black, the corners of the notebook are squared, and the pages are entirely blank. If Tomoe River were competing in a minimalistic notebook contest, they've won it with the Kanso.

Honestly, I'm fine with the lack of branding on this notebook. It's all business, and I'm sure that knocks a few cents off the end price as well. What everyone really cares about in this notebook is the paper. It's fabulous. Writing on Tomoe River paper is a smooth experience. There's very little feedback on the nib, but just enough to let you control your strokes. I've never been able to make a pen or ink cause bleeding or feathering on Tomoe River paper. Show through is a problem, but that's due to the extreme thinness of this paper. It's the main downside of this paper, but I suspect everyone is already aware of that before they purchase any Tomoe River products. Dry time is fairly quick due to how quickly this paper absorbs the ink. But, you'll need to be careful and avoid shutting the notebook too quickly after writing, or you'll end up with ink ghosting on the opposite page.

In terms of durability, there's nothing special here. I don't expect the corners of this notebook to hold up very well after a few days of being carried in a bag. The sharp corners are begging to be bent and caught on all kinds of fabric and nearby objects. The cover material isn't very thick, either, so I expect the covers to tear and discolor rapidly. Since B5 is a fairly common notebook size, there are plenty of options for covering this notebook with a folio, case, or binder of some kind. My preferred cover is the Kokuyo Systemic, but there are plenty of other options if you look around.

Overall, I'm really pleased with the Kanso notebook! It's a no-frills worker of a notebook that showcases the wonderful Tomoe River paper. At $15, it's a good deal considering how much Tomoe River paper normally costs. This is a great introductory price and notebook format to try if you've never had the pleasure of using Tomoe River paper!

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Tomoe River Notebook by Sakae Technical Paper: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

I remember when finding Tomoe River paper was difficult. Only one or two retailers offered it in the US, and you had to get an order in promptly or you were out of luck. Now Tomoe River paper is available from multiple retailers in a variety of notebook styles.

Today I’m reviewing the Tomoe River Notebook by Sakae Technical Paper. It is a cardboard-bound notebook with white, dot-grid, 52gsm paper in A5 size. The notebook contains 368 thread-bound pages.

This is a beautifully-made notebook. The thick cardboard cover is textured with a subtle logo on the front. It comes with a plastic cover that protects the notebook from the elements, which is an especially nice touch. The notebook lays flat when open.

The paper is smooth with a light dot-grid pattern on pure white paper. I really like the white paper (I’m accustomed to cream Tomoe River paper) because ink colors look more accurate on white paper.

I tested the paper in several ways: writing reviews, practicing calligraphy, testing pens, and doing swatches. It performed beautifully, though, like all Tomoe River paper, show through is obvious. Bleed through, however, is rare. I only encountered it with my three-tined music nib and a Sharpie.

General Writing

The paper works well for general writing. I wrote a couple of Pen Addict reviews using the notebook, and I have absolutely no complaints about how the paper feels under a nib. It’s absolutely smooth and it doesn’t catch at your nib. Plus, it lays flat when open.

You can see the show through from the review written with a Danitrio fine nib.

Calligraphy Practice

I love this notebook for calligraphy practice. The dot grid provides guidance, and you can write in portrait or landscape.

Thicker lines show through much more obviously than regular writing.

Pen Testing

I used several different fountain pens and other writing instruments to test the paper. It handled all the fountain pens perfectly except for the widest and wettest nib: a Waterman three-tined music nib. I dipped the Waterman, so the number 10 I wrote was especially wet. That was the only ink that bled through (and just a tiny bit).

I also tried several other pens, rollerballs, brush pens, various ballpoints, and a pencil. The only pen that showed through quite obviously was the Sharpie.

Swatches

Last, I tested the paper by doing ink swatches. I love how ink swatches look on this paper. The colors are true, and the dot grid shows in the swatches. Obviously, with such wet ink, you have a great deal of show through (but no bleed through on any of the inks I tested).

As you can see, the paper is lovely and it shows off ink well. However, if you are bothered by show through, you won’t like this notebook (or any Tomoe River paper, for that matter). The thing about Tomoe River paper is that it is super thin and yet ink doesn’t tend to bleed or feather. However, that thinness means that writing will show through. The easy solution is to use only one side of the paper if you’re bothered by show through. I journal on both sides of my Seven Seas Writer (also Tomoe River paper), and I’m not bothered by the show through at all. I love how the paper gets all crinkly and the ink colors meld together in a collage of words.

A few things are missing from this notebook that some writers might want, such as a ribbon marker, pockets on the inside of the cover, and page numbers. But, if you like a sleek, classy looking notebook without any added bulk, the Tomoe River Notebook by Sakae Technical is a great choice.

You can purchase this notebook at Jet Pens for $49.00. Although this notebook is very nice, it is almost twice as expensive as the Seven Seas Writer ($26.00), which has 468 pages (it comes in dot-grid, white or lined cream). The Seven Seas does not have a plastic cover, however, and it is much thicker.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)