(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
The end of the year always sparks a dash to pick up a planner for the next calendar year. You don't want to be caught on January 1 without a fresh planner to start your year! But what if you want to pick up the habit midway through the year? The thought of skipping past three months of empty pages can be a dealbreaker, and I can certainly sympathize. At that point, you're stuck picking from planners that are date agnostic (meaning you fill in the dates as you go).
Luckily, there's another option that, while obscure, can perfectly the needs described above. The Kokuyo Jibun Techo Biz Diary Mini is a planner that starts goes from April 2022 to April 2023. Each week is a full spread across two pages, with Monday at the beginning and Sunday at the end. This is different from a single-page-per-day planner like the Hobonichi Techo, but these two-page weekly spreads are really great too. It keeps the format compact but still has enough space to plan out or record your days in full detail.
Every hour is accounted for in this planner, though the early morning hours (0-6) have smaller spaces available to make room for the more traditional waking hours. The bottom of each day features some space for notes, highlights, and positive/neutral things that happened during the day. The icons used to denote these extra spaces are vague enough that you can use them in any purpose you see fit. I get annoyed with planners that are too opinionated about how I'm supposed to use them, and the Biz does not fall into that category.
The planner includes some great comfort features that really help from a planning and navigation aspect. The month numbers are printed on the outer edge of the page so you can easily navigate, and there's a small monthly calendar in the left side of the spread so you know where the weeks and days fall in the current month. Overall, the weekly planner portion of this product is really well done.
So far, I've only looked at the typical week spread where you'll likely spend most of your time. But this planner has a ton of extra goodies hidden between the covers.
Along with the weekly spreads, you got a monthly calendar for March 2022 through June 2023. These monthly calendars are also spread across two pages, which provide enough space to jot down notes, highlights, etc.
On top of all that, there are also several other helpful charts, trackers, and different month/year layouts for planning and visualizing different things. There are honestly too many to list, and I think each one has a great level of ambiguity that allows you to repurpose them to your own needs.
An abbreviated list from the marketing copy:
"a world time zone map, Japanese transit maps, yearly schedules, project management charts, and checklists for books, movies, promises, and recommendations."
This little planner really packs a lot in. You'd be safe to assume that it's quite a little chunk to carry around, but you'd be surprisingly wrong.
The Biz uses Kokuyo's excellent MIO paper, which keeps the overall thickness of the notebook thin without sacrificing performance. This 60gsm paper is similar to Tomoe River since it's super thin but handles fountain pen ink without a problem. There is some minor show through on the back side of the pages, but that's also the case when using fine gel tip pens (and even some pencils). This is one of the side effects of using such thin paper, but the tradeoffs are totally worth it when you consider everything that fits in this form factor.
At just 4.7 x 7.5 inches (120 x 190 mm), otherwise known as "B6 Slim," this notebook can fit in almost any bag and most coat pockets. It's also large enough that it's incredibly comfortable to use on a table. The binding is well done and has no problem laying flat on its own once you've opened the notebook to a particular weekly spread. Likewise, it stays shut when you're not using it.
There are two independent cloth markers — black and red — to mark different spots in the notebook. They're a little long for my taste, but they're easy to trim if needed.
Along with the notebook, you get a nice plastic cover to protect everything inside. There's no closure system for this cover — it simply wraps the notebook cover. Still, the notebook has no issues staying closed. The cover also adds a few pockets. In the front inside cover, there are three business/credit card slots. On the back inside cover, there's a horizontal slash pocket that can hold something similar in width to a credit card, but much longer.
There's a small plastic pen loop attached the back side of the cover as well. It's not a robust pen loop by any means, but it gets the job done. I don't know if will last a whole year of heavy use, but it's good enough for light to medium daily use. If you're not using it, it easily folds flat and tucks out of the way.
The front of the cover has one more slash pocket that is large enough to easily fit a pocket notebook (3.5 x 5.5 inch) or two, making it a great little kit.
I'm more of a "will he or won't he" user when it comes to journals of any kind, but I know for sure I haven't been giving enough credit to the two-page week spread. The Kokuyo Jibun Techo Biz diary helped me see the light, and I look forward to using this throughout the year.
I'm using the Matte Navy B6 Slim variant in this review, but you can also pick this up in an A5 Slim size. Both sizes offer the same color options: Matte Navy, Matte Black, and Light Beige. At $42 to $44 (depending on the size), this is a great option for getting into a weekly journaling habit a quarter into the new year.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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