Hello, I’m Nakamae from the Hobohichi Techo team.

In this issue of the Hobonichi Techo News, I am sharing something I was glad I had written or pasted in my techo.

I keep a photo journal in my Weeks book every day.

So many happy events over 2023 remain with me as fun memories, and I would like to pick up two of the most joyful days.

The first one is when a longtime dream came true; I published my book!

I have been writing for quite a long time, but I never thought I could hold my book in my own hands. I had been preparing for it since last year. I will never forget the day the work was finally completed, and the book became available in bookstores.

Looking back at this page, I can reexperience the feeling of happiness over and over again, as if it has been preserved in a vacuum pack. It is definitely what I am glad that I have kept in my techo.


It would also be great to mark the pages you want to look back on repeatedly.


The second event was my wedding, which was held in April. Having my favorite people celebrate already made it a special day, but what was most impressive was what my father did.


　
At the climax of the wedding, I was planning to read a letter of gratitude to my father. It was supposed to be a surprise for him, to thank him for what he had done after becoming alone with me in the family when my mother passed away.

I started reading the letter out loud, wondering if I could see my father’s tears. I managed to finish the reading, but I sounded nasal from the thousands of emotions building up.

I looked at my father, who was trying hard to hide his tears. He then slowly got up from his seat and started walking towards me and my microphone. “What is happening?” I thought, would it be a handshake or a warm embrace?

Neither of my expectations came true.

My father suddenly took the microphone from me and started talking. “Good evening! I am the father; I came from Nara prefecture.” Everyone at the venue, including me, was stunned.

“Good evening! I am the father; I came from Nara prefecture. Thank you all for coming to celebrate my daughter’s wedding. Now that she has read a letter to me, I would also like to share something. My daughter recently published a book of essays, and I read it. I had never read essays before, so I wondered what it would be like, but after reading it, I was completely inspired. So I decided to write an essay myself! It is my first time doing something like this, and I would like everyone to hear what I have written. The title is “The Deer of Nara are Gods!” Oh… wait… I seem to have lost the note. I need to go look for it, so everyone, please have a chat!”

Everyone burst into laughter. After an interesting moment searching for the note together with the attendants, the MC announced that the note could not be found, and we decided to wait for another occasion to hear what he had written, and the wedding came to an end.

That night, however, my father did find the “essay note” from the bottom of his bag and gave it to me as a gift. “See? I really wrote something.”

What it said was about how godly my husband was to get married to a daughter like me (which seemed to have nothing to do with the deer of Nara). It was, in fact, an excellent piece of writing, so I printed a small copy of it and put it on the right page of my techo. It reminds me of the funny and happy wedding day whenever I read it over.




It was the night when I realized that my father was someone I could be nowhere near as good as, and to this day, I still remember the feeling every time I open the techo.

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To celebrate the Hobonichi Techo surpassing ten million all-time sales, we’re recruiting stories of everyone’s one-in-ten-million day. We’d love to hear about your own personal unforgettable day, and perhaps were glad you wrote it down in your techo. You will be able to submit your episode by clicking on the image below. We look forward to reading your submission!

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Hi, I’m Annen from the Hobonichi Techo team.

As the current topic of the Hobonichi Techo news is “I'm glad I wrote this down!” I would like to introduce the scrapbooking that I tried out this year for the first time.


I have always had a habit of hoarding things I like.

The world has so many lovely designs, from candy boxes, cans, and shopping bags to flyers; I just want to keep the ones I love.

▼A part of my collection at home.


There are still many other things in my daily life that I am interested in, such as candy wrappers and stickers on prepared foods.

I imagined how fun it would be to put all these little daily favorites in one techo, so I decided to make a scrapbook with a plain notebook.

▼The year and month when the scrapbooking started on the end paper of the cover.

▼Nine months have passed, making it quite thick. What would it look like when I finish the whole book?


Scrapbooking was easier than I thought; just pick a topic for the page and paste all of your favorites there.

▼Stickers on prepared foods

▼Vegetable packagings

▼Tapes with the shop logos

▼Chopstick bags for memories


Since the plain notebooks have four different colors (red, blue, green, and purple) for the graph paper, you can use them to have separate topics by color.


I am unsure if you can see it in the photos, but I keep a rule to use red graph paper pages for snack and bread packages and purple for wrapping paper. (The blue and green graph paper is for pasting anything)

▼Red: snack and bread packages


▼Purple: wrapping paper


It is amusing to see the pages filled with the designs that I love,

And looking back, I realize that precious memories are kept together inside them, such as “the souvenir that I got from that trip” and “the delighted gift I got from that person,” which makes the notebook even more special.

I feel that these types of packages that I am obsessed with are taken for granted now but could be gone someday, which probably contributes to my desire to collect them.

I dream that this scrapbook will perhaps become a valuable resource when I look back on it decades from now.


~Extra info~
Washi tape and glue tape are the two must-haves for scrapbooking.


Sometimes, after I paste stuff on my techo, I want to move a particular piece to a different page to make it look better. With these two items, I’m free to do whatever I want!
(I use the washi tape as a double-sided tape by wrapping it up)

I especially recommend this “Dotliner (restickable type)” glue tape, which is less noticeable when applying materials like transparent films.
▼It glues in a transparent dot pattern.

*If the glue does not stick on the film, you can glue it to the techo page and attach the film to it to make it stick.

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To celebrate the Hobonichi Techo surpassing ten million all-time sales, we’re recruiting stories of everyone’s one-in-ten-million day. We’d love to hear about your own personal unforgettable day, and perhaps were glad you wrote it down in your techo. You will be able to submit your episode by clicking on the image below. We look forward to reading your submission!

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Hello, I'm Hoshino from the techo team. 2024 has finally begun! How are you spending the first day of 2024?

The Hobonichi Techo News is currently updated under the theme of "I'm glad I wrote this down." Let me introduce you to three things I'm glad I wrote down!


Techo I used in 2023: 1. Work techo / 2. Diary / 3. Reading record

(1) Small memos taken during work (Cousin Avec)
I use the Cousin Avec to keep work memos. On the To-do list on the top right of each daily page, I wrote down small things that left an impression on me.


The day I learnt how to read this kanji.



The day the amount left in my IC card had all the same numbers. The day Susan from product management said she finally understood how yummy chocolate is and we all laughed. The day it hailed and Higashi said it was her first time seeing hail.

These are all things that I would have forgotten if I had not written them down. I was reminded of these events as I read back on my techo and it made me happy.


(2) Small headline that is useful when reading back on (5-Year Techo)
I started using my second 5-Year Techo from 2023. From this year, I started writing a quick and easy headline each day so that I can read a summary of that day when I read back on my techo.


The day it snowed in Tokyo, I took a paid holiday and was at home.



It's a simple thing, but I quite like it. I think I'll continue doing this this year too.


(3) Reading record (Weeks)
I write down books I read (and often movies I watched and exhibitions I visited) in the monthly pages of my Weeks. I simply wrote down the title of the book, but the feeling of fillilng up the blocks encouraged me to keep going this year.


I should have written more neatly

It's interesting how I can see what I was interested in. In April, I mainly read books about conductors, and in May I read books that I found out through book reviews.


I lined up the books in the order I read them according to the record I kept in my Weeks

These are the things I was glad I wrote in my techo.

Today is the day we can start writing in our January-start techo. We have also uploaded our annual Techo Omikuji. I hope your techo that is currently blank will be filled with lots of fun memories throughout the year.

We hope you have fun with the Hobonichi Techo this year too!

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To celebrate the Hobonichi Techo surpassing ten million all-time sales, we’re recruiting stories of everyone’s one-in-ten-million day. We’d love to hear about your own personal unforgettable day, and perhaps were glad you wrote it down in your techo. You will be able to submit your episode by clicking on the image below. We look forward to reading your submission!

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Hi everyone, I'm Higashi from the techo team.

When I look back on my techo that I use to manage my schedule and as a diary, I realize how there are days that are filled with events, and days that are completely blank.

There is one thing that I have continued to write in my techo this year, though. That is, write down the title of the book I read that day in the To-do list section of each daily page.


I often jot down phrases that stuck with me.

Even if I had only read one or two pages, I'd still write it down as a record that I did read a book that day. Which means, I'd write down the same title for several days straight. But doing so makes me feel like I've read a lot, so I recommend this method.


You can see how proud I was reading two books in a single day

At one point, I wondered how many books I had read in total, so I listed them in the My 100 page.


I used No. 1-50 to write down my bucket list, and 51-100 to write down the books I read

I actually read a lot this year!


If I read a book two times, I listed it twice.

It made me think that I can manage to read 50 books this year!

These books are those that I bought, borrowed from a friend, or borrowed from the library, but by listing them down like this, it feels like I've made my very own bookshelf in my techo. It's fascinating how a simple list reminds me of the book design and how I felt when I read that book. Reading back on my techo, I was glad I wrote it down.

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To celebrate the Hobonichi Techo surpassing ten million all-time sales, we’re recruiting stories of everyone’s one-in-ten-million day. We’d love to hear about your own personal unforgettable day, and perhaps were glad you wrote it down in your techo. You will be able to submit your episode by clicking on the image below. We look forward to reading your submission!

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Hi everyone! I'm Hino from the techo team.

Before I know it, 2024 is just around the corner! Yet, there are still so many blank pages in my techo...! I'm currently dealing with these two factors and slightly panicking over them.

I use the calendar on my smartphone to manage my schedules, so I decided to only write my favorite things in my techo, and so started to use a Day-Free from this summer. After a while, I came up with the idea of using my Day-Free as a place to list picture books I want to read.


List of picture books I want to read



The Hobonichi office is located in Jinbocho, so I end up buying lots of picture books


I have loved picture books ever since I was little, but I always find myself forgetting the titles of the picture books I was interested in whenever I go to the library.

That is, I learn about the picture books I want to read through conversations with people, childcare magazines, or the radio, and those quickly fall out from my memory, and even if I do jot down notes, they tend to disappear somewhere.


To keep the list in one place, I write them down on pages towards the back of the book

By writing it down on the memo pages towards the back of the book, I make sure my list doesn't blend in with my daily memos I had already written in the pages towards the start of the book.

Thanks to this list, I have since then been able to book them from the library and finally read the picture books that I wanted to read.



Memos of picture books I read



Although I started off using a mechanical pencil so I can continue to write...

As I listed the picture books I wanted to read, my techo took on a new role of a "book to keep a record for anything picture book-related." So, I decided to sketch picture books that I read to my child. I write down the following information as a set:
- Name of book
- Author
- Publisher
- Number of pages
- My child's reaction
- The front cover
- A spread that lasted in my memory


Writing with a pencil didn't last long...

I used to write using a mechanical pencil, but it started to become a chore because it took so long. (Oh no, I won't be able to write continuously anymore...) That's when I found a user submission who uses their Hobonichi Techo as a sketchbook.

I was surprised the techo could be used as a drawing pad considering how thin its pages are, but I carefully tried drawing a sketch of a picture book with acrylic paint.

I used lots of water so I could draw quickly, but other than the area I drew in, the paper didn't ripple that much! When you use a sketchbook that uses acrylic painting paper, it puffs up alot, but this made me realize how great the paper of the Hobonichi Techo is...!


Even with three colors, you can create various colors which makes the whole process faster

I was able to speed up the process by using paint, and it made my spread more fun with the added colors. This seems more up my street.



Memos of picture books I read probably won't be useful immediately, but I'm sure it will be fun to look back on one day.

If your techo has lots of blank pages, why not try painting in it?

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To celebrate the Hobonichi Techo surpassing ten million all-time sales, we’re recruiting stories of everyone’s one-in-ten-million day. We’d love to hear about your own personal unforgettable day, and perhaps were glad you wrote it down in your techo. You will be able to submit your episode by clicking on the image below. We look forward to reading your submission!

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Hello, I'm Watanabe from the techo team. I'm here today to share with you two things that I'm glad I wrote or pasted in my techo.



[No.1: Hiking booklet]
Although I only do it around three times a year, I like to go hiking in low mountains. There are great hiking apps these days where you can write down your hiking plans, diaries and log GPS data.

I do admit that apps are extremely practical and useful, but I'd like to recommend handwritten hiking booklets. By writing down your hiking plans by hand, it's so much easier to imagine what your hike would be like, and moreover, it will get you more excited for it!


　Mount Jinba is close to Mount Takao and is included in the 100 famous mountains of the Kanto area. Although the summit is higher than Mount Takao, it isn't crowded and is fairly easy to climb, and the summit is a spacious, grassy area and offers a great view. The area where you can use burners is spacious too.




　Mount Tsukuba is also known as a low mountain that is easy to climb. If you're going with your children, I recommend the Shirakumo Bridge course where you can see lots of oddly-shaped rocks along the way. There are many people who hike with their dogs too. There are both cable cars and ropeways so you don't have to worry about going down too. I also like how the Tsukuba Express is super fast. (Apparently its maximum speed is 130km/h)



By creating these booklets and pasting them in my techo, I'm able to compare the height of the mountains of my past hikes and plan which mountain I should aim next, or think about how my son got bored during the last hike so I should choose a mountain where we can enjoy various courses for next time.

By looking back on these booklets, my excitement for the next hike grows. It also shows my child's growth and how much I've aged lol.




[No.2: Origami]
My son is currently addicted to origami. He folds them earnestly with his small hands and gives my wife those that went well, those that look okay to his grandma, and those that didn't go well to me.



Origami all folded up　



This is what it's like when opened. Just doing this is quite fun.


Because my room will be filled up with origami at this rate, I paste origami from my son that I especially like in my techo. By pasting them in, it has turned my techo into a treasure box.

I do contemplate whether I should paste it in or not, so maybe it's better to keep it in a pocket instead.


That's all I've got for today! I hope you look forward to the next Techo News!

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To celebrate the Hobonichi Techo surpassing ten million all-time sales, we’re recruiting stories of everyone’s one-in-ten-million day. We’d love to hear about your own personal unforgettable day, and perhaps were glad you wrote it down in your techo. You will be able to submit your episode by clicking on the image below. We look forward to reading your submission!

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Hello, I'm Iwasawa from the techo team.

The Hobonichi Techo News is brought to you by Hobonichi Techo team members under various topics. This time, techo team members will look back on their past techo and share what they were glad they wrote or pasted in it!

I'm the first member to write under this theme, and what I thought was that I'm glad I pasted lots of things in! ...That was a bit vague, wasn't it. More specifically, I'm glad I pasted packages and labels of the food I ate, or menus from when I ate out.


I painstakingly peeled this off from a cookie can I received as a souvenir

I'm the type of person who forgets everything. Even if I thought something was yummy, I'd only remember that I thought it was tasty and not the food itself. However, when I paste menus and packages to my techo, they remind me of how nice the smell was, or how fluffy it was, and I'm able to relive that happy experience.


Did I actually eat this much?

The title of this Techo News "What is rubbish when thrown away turns into memories when pasted" is actually a slogan I share with my husband. If something seems like it will make us happy in the future, we'd paste them in our techo and not throw them away. I'd look back on my techo with my husband and have conversations like "Wasn't this so yummy?" "Should we order this again?" "Do you reckon we can but that sake we drank at that restaurant?" I like how pasting things in my techo creates times I spend with my husband like this.


Items I use to paste things in

Another way I write in my techo that I'm glad I did was write down memorable events of words and add a frame, or write using brush pens, so it stands out.


I don't even need to change colors - I just need to frame it.

This way, I'd know what struck my heart or what I thought was important at a glance, and it makes it more fun to look back on.

There was a phrase I found by doing so from January 2021. They were words by Jun Miura, who had appeared in a newsletter published by Hobonichi.


Words that saved my when I felt trapped.

"Think of it as a period to soak in our past memories."

It was an answer to a question that asked what we should do during lockdown, but I thought it was also fitting for this season when we take our time looking back on our techo.

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To celebrate the Hobonichi Techo surpassing ten million all-time sales, we’re recruiting stories of everyone’s one-in-ten-million day. We’d love to hear about your own personal unforgettable day, and perhaps were glad you wrote it down in your techo. You will be able to submit your episode by clicking on the image below. We look forward to reading your submission!

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Hello, Shiori from the techo team here.

This series of the Hobonichi Techo News is "Why I chose this techo for 2024."

However!

I haven’t even decided yet!

Every year, I use the following four kinds of techos:
-For work
-April-start for journaling
-For exhibits
-5-Year Techo

I always used a Monday-start Original for my work techo, but now that the HON is out, I can’t tell if I want a techo that uses a cover or not.

Since I’m still on the fence about my techo, I’ve started by picking out my stationery. First, I’ve got my usual Plain Notebook with graph paper.



I use this when coming up with project ideas by brainstorming and scribbling in it, but I wanted a small pocket to store things in so I scrapped together a homemade pocket using a sticky note.



There’s no way this is going to stay in here. Guess this isn’t much of a pocket.
I’ll go with an actual cover.



This is Opanchu Usagi (Stationery). It’s PVC and lightweight.





It also has pockets on both the back and the front, so it’s really handy.



You can put all kinds of stationery in here.
I’m going with this one!

I also picked out the Pochitto6 ”Yummy Days” design.

I also got a pencil board with the Love it (Panda) design by Kitamura.



All the pandas playing around with tires are so cute!

Here’s a case I got for my laptop.
It’s the PAMM: Generous Interior Laptop Case.





There’s a pocket on the back that’s really convenient.

But my materialism doesn’t end there!
Next I got the Porter: Mini Wallet - Stroll Jr.



It’s a mini version of the techo cover Stroll.
I knew I wanted one ever since showed me a sample. It looks like a mini wallet, but it also has a tiny notebook inside it, so I’d like to use it to take notes when I’m on trips.

Last but not least is the Mini Banana Hammer DX.



I have no intention of using it as a hammer, but I felt compelled to have it.

So I’ve got my accessories, and now I just need to pick the main item! I think I’ll waffle for a little longer.

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Hi everyone, this is Annen from the techo team.

This series of the Hobonichi Techo News is brought to you under the theme of "Why I chose this techo for 2024" where team members show the techos, covers and stationery they picked out for 2024.


Here are my two techo picks for 2024!

★Work use:
HON (A6 size) Bow & Tie: Cats & Me
★Personal use:
Hanabi Set Weeks by Tomomi ?? Nishikawa

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Work-use Techo
I've been using the Day-Free Cousin as my work techo, but once the HON debuted, I wanted to try out the one page per day approach.

I like how much you can write in an A5 Cousin book, but the A6 size is so compact and it looks so much like a normal book (and so cute) that I decided to try it out.

But most importantly, look at this cat pattern...!

We took in a rescue cat last year, so the Cats & Me pattern kind of felt like fate.

▼Doesn't this one look a little like my cat?


Here are six stationery items I bought to accompany my work techo.


1) Customized fountain pen (Ancora)
2) FriXion Ball 4 (Pilot)
3) Blotting paper


I've been using this FriXion pen as my main pen for over a decade, but I was in the mood for a really nice fountain pen with my 2024 HON, so I'm going to try out Ancora's custom fountain pen. (But, of course, I won't be able to just let my FriXion pen go!)

▼I love how beautiful the ink coloring is with the fountain pen.


With the blotting paper, I don't have to wait for the ink to dry, and I can close my book right away.

4) Pochitto6

These Pochitto6 stamps are really special this year because we've got some original Hobonichi designs.

I got all three:
-Animal Parade
-Yummy Days
-With My Techo
I'm looking forward to how I can use these, such as putting an animal next to meeting titles that I write down, or marking things that I've eaten.

5) Anything Pocket

The Anything Pocket sticks in the endpaper of the HON to provide a handy place to store little things.
I’ll be keeping important on-hand items in it, such as business cards.

6) Safety Case

The HON is used without attaching an additional cover, which makes it simple and compact and stylish. At the same time, this means a lack of pockets in which to store small items.

I wasn’t sure how I would account for them, but then I thought of the Safety Case!

▼It has sturdy vinyl pockets perfect for small stationery items that otherwise end up scattered.




The HON and accessories can all fit in the Hobonichi Everlasting “Paper” Bag (Mini), so my 2024 work set is complete.


・・・・・・・・・・


I chose the Hanabi Set Weeks by Tomomi ?? Nishikawa as my ”Input Techo”, where I write about books I read, review movies I watched, paste in tickets to exhibits I visit, and things like that.

▼As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it.


A trash can, a mole, a UFO, a hammer, and alcohol...?
There are so many unique images spliced together that the name Hanabi, which means fireworks, is a great fit because the design is so bright and uplifting.

I always use this Hobonichi Pencil Board and Preppy Fountain Pen with my personal techo, but I also bought a Deco Rush (Cats & Me) to add to my lineup.


The monthly calendar in my Weeks tracks my cat’s toilet habits, so I’d like to be able to use it on days that go well.

▼It’s so cute having all these different cats.


There’s lots more to come in Techo News. We hope it helps anyone still struggling to decide which to use next year.

We hope you enjoy our next installment!

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Hello! Beckham 3 here from the techo team.

This series of the Hobonichi Techo News is brought to you under the theme of "Why I chose this techo for 2024" where team members show the techos, covers and stationery they picked out for 2024.


And with that, let's jump into it! Here are my picks from the 2024 lineup!


▲These are totally different from Nakamae's bright lineup.


So why these? Well, first of all, I'm currently using the MOTHER: Franklin Badge techo cover with the Original (Monday start) book.

I carry it around with me everywhere, just like the Franklin Badge in the MOTHER series, so the off-white material is starting to feel a little aged. But I love it, and was thinking about using the cover for another year. Then the MOTHER HON showed up!

When I heard that there was a MOTHER design coming out for the HON, and a big logo on the cover with a red and gold design based on the original Famicom game cartridge, I was taken back to the years I spent playing MOTHER when it first came out, and the excitement I felt when I was younger. I immediately knew my next techo choice was the A6 MOTHER: EarthBound Beginnings HON.


▲The new and the old MOTHER covers

This year, I used my Original techo for both work and my personal life. But as I looked over the HON, I decided to dedicate this one to personal use and fill it to the brim with ideas and illustrations so I can use it with total freedom.

So that took care of my personal life, but how about a techo for work?

Since my 2023 cover was made of stout canvas material, it had a sense of familiarity to it. But because I'll be using my techo for work only in 2024, I wanted something that would let me write a lot in it while still being comfortable to carry around. So I chose the A5 Avec Cousin for work.

And when I looked for a simple, slim cover, I found the perfect match.

The Have a Nice Day! (Almond) cover!


▲I also like how the subdued color of almond and the subdued light blue of my smartphone made for a yummy looking combo!

I picked the Taro Okamoto: Three Faces Weeks book separate from my Avec book so I could carry it around with me everywhere in a small bag. It'll be my companion for art-related entries. (Mainly for books I read, movies I watch, and art museums and exhibits I visit.)

Here's the stationery I picked out to help me enjoy these three techo books in 2024.



▲The ONE PIECE magazine: Square Letter Paper to Share Your Feelings Vol. 2 and Zebra Mildliner Calm Mild 5-Color Marker Set

When I'm especially busy, these letter papers have quotes from One Piece that are perfect for giving messages to people. I'm thinking I'll use these at home, especially among my family. We tend to have notes with only the bare minimum written on it, but these can help me further express my feelings while I'm at it.


▲The left paper is for my oldest son in high school, the middle one is for my younger son in junior high school, and the one on the right is for my wife.

The Mildliner Calm Mild 5-Color Marker Set is to give my pages a bit more color next year to make them more fun. My 2023 techo mostly only had red or black ink pens in it, so it looked pretty utilitarian.


▲The colors are all so calming and beautiful

This five-color set is going to look so nice and calming in my techo. The colors both look like they represent the four seasons in Japan and an array of tasty foods.

That was just a quick look at what I picked out for my 2024 techo, but here's another look at them all together...


▲A lineup custom-fit for me for 2024.

This may have been a conscious decision or not on my part when picking out these products, but it turned out as a collection of wild adventures with MOTHER and Taro Okamoto and One Piece, coupled with a calming collection with the Have a Nice Day! cover and Calm Mild 5-Color Marker Set.

It makes sense! I'd love to make my Life (Book) both those things in 2024!

I'm sure the next team member will have yet another completely different lineup.

Look forward to the next Techo News!

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- See here for the techo lineup
- See here for the stationery lineup

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