Hobonichi: Techo Avec (Jul-Dec) 2022 Review

I've never found the right book for me when it comes to planners and calendars, but after a lot of researching, found myself stumbling upon some Japanese brand journals. Although last year (2022) I was using a monthly Midori slim, my usage has changed a lot from when I was younger (there's just more stuff to keep track of every day) and so I found myself picking up the Hobonichi Avec mid year to see if it would suit my purposes. I'm by no means a seasoned reviewer of journals and planners, but I thought it would be nice to share my thoughts on these, especially in comparison to the Midori, which is also frequently recommended. 

Description: We first introduced the Avec in response to customers who struggled with bulging books after collecting a year's worth of pasted material in the daily pages. The Avec version splits the A6 Hobonichi Techo Original, design and all, into books of six months each with only slight variances in calendar spans and the number of extra pages in the back. This allows you to fill the pages to your heart’s content with scheduling, diaries, little notes, tickets, photographs, doodles, and anything that strikes your fancy.

The Avec comes in Japanese only. It has 240 pages, with one page for each day (date listed on the top of the page), with a page included to mark each new month. Each book is A6, with the thickness of the book coming in at a modest 8mm, weighing 117g. It comes with stitch binding on Tomoe River paper, and the graph paper size is 3.7mm. It includes all the listed information including the lunar calendar, and the moon phase, and Japanese holidays. Additionally, Hobonichi, compared to Midori, also likes to include extra special pages, such as daily quotes (in Japanese), with a time table, a My 100 page, stretches snacks and address pages. 

How I use my Avec and general thoughts:  

I primarily used this book as a diary/journal for health related purposes (including medication) and tracking my general condition. I occasionally doodle in it, but it's mostly text based, with frequent use of the times of day to track medication. 

I've broken down some of the main features of the Avec here as discussion points for a brief overview. 

Paper quality: The usual Tomoe River paper. Too thin for my personal preference, I prefer thicker paper, and I don't mind the bulk. 

Page design: Although it can be a little cramped with extra quotes and lots of other information, I personally enjoy the moon phases, the colored pages, and the times listed on the side. I personally like all the Japanese, it encourages me to practice my reading. This is YMMV as I've definitely changed my mind on how much design or extra writing I want in a journal, but I've grown fond of it. 

Grid size: I really like the grid size on this one. It's perfect for making any lists and also fits my writing well. I personally wouldn't mind it slightly smaller, but I prefer this to the Hibino grids.

Cover: I don't mind the blue shade on this one, and I like that Hobonichi allows you to pair these with a bunch of different cover options. I personally also don't mind the paper cover, I like it over an inbuilt cover as I feel like it can be a bit of a waste. Plus, you can decorate it however you like! I know some people prefer the flexible cover as the inbuilt covers for books like the Hon tend to look quite awkward, but as someone who almost never sticks anything in the book, it doesn't make a huge difference to me. I think the binding is also fine. 

Size and weight: I don't mind the A6, although I wish there was a B6 option. I think as a half book this is extremely light, and the thickness of the book is very manageable. I don't think its super heavy. 

Overall: 

Compared to the Midori Monthly tracker, I initially found it difficult to adapt to a grid based journal, although eventually I've found it a nice change as it helps section and straight out my writing. However, compared to the thickness of the Midori paper for their usual books, I found the Tomoe River paper too thin and despite usually using the EMOTT fine liner pens and fountain pens, I noticed that it was significantly visible on the back of the paper. Although Tomoe River paper is often praised for being extremely thin but also good at holding ink and pens for a paper of its thinness, I can't help but feel like I wouldn't mind a slightly thicker paper because I personally don't like seeing my pen marks on the back of the page, as it makes it hard to see what's written on both sides. As such, I switched to exclusively using uniball colored pens for Tomoe River paper, as the ink tends to sit on top of the paper rather than seeping in compared to the ink based pens. However, I really like the one page a day set up after using it, and also really enjoy the general set up of the page. I also enjoy the spacing of the graph grids, as I find them a good size, and comfortable to write and navigate (the Midori Hibino tends to run too small and cramped for me). 

As I don't tend to paint or use my Avec like a scrapbook, I personally don't mind the thickness of the book, and I would personally consider picking up the Techo original. However, I find the A6 size slightly too small if I want to extensively write in the journal. I think my ideal journal might be a slightly bigger version of the Hobonichi layout, perhaps in a B6 size which is slightly bigger and allows more usage of the one page a day set up. While I enjoyed the Avec, I decided to pick up the Hibino at the end of last year due to the 1 day 2 pages set up as it was slightly bigger and provided more space to write. However, for 2024, I ended up picking up the Hobonichi which is the Jan-Dec version, as I find that I don't often fill out every single day with two pages worth of content. I'm looking forward to using my original Hobonichi for next year - and I don't think I'll be picking up a cover for that one either! 

And ... Is there any real reason to pick up the Hobonichi Techo Avec over the full? Well, I picked this up in the middle of the year, so this was a good way for me to test out if I really enjoyed the format/feel of the book. If not for a timing issue, I've heard that people who want a slimmer, more portable option and like sticking things into their books can find this a good option to travel with without things becoming too bulky. For me, I think I prefer the yearly option, but I'm glad they offered the flexibility of options of start times so I was able to try this one out without wasting 3/4ths of a book!