Hobonichi TechoBook Buying Guide
The Hobonichi Techo comes in several types.
Here's a look at each one.
Exploring Each Type
- Planner
- A6 Size
- One Page Per Day
- English
- An English-language daily planner with an unobtrusive and supportive layout.
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- Original
- A6 Size
- One Page Per Day
- Japanese
- A compact Japanese daily planner with a colorful, user-friendly design.
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- Cousin
- A5 Size
- One Page Per Day
- Japanese
- A Japanese daily planner with a colorful design and roomy layout.
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- Weeks
- Slim Vertical Size
- Weekly Format
- Japanese
- A Japanese planner with a week per page format and plenty of blank graph paper.
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- 5-Year Techo
- A6 & A5 Size
- Five Years in One Book
- Japanese
- A compact book that lines up the same date across five years on each page.
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Simple Comparison Chart
- Planner
- Language
- English
- Size
-
A6 W 105 mm / 4.1” H 148 mm / 5.8” T 14 mm / 0.6” - Weight
- Approx. 200 g
- Dates
- January - December
- First Day of the Week
- Monday start
- Daily Page
- Weekly Page
- Monthly Page
- Yearly Calendar
- Other Pages
-
- Memo Page
- Important Contacts
- International Size Charts
- Conversion Table
- Traditional Japanese Household Items
- Junishi: The Japanese Zodiac
- A World of Traditional Sweets
- International Country Codes / Dialling Codes
- National Holidays
- Personal Notes
- Included With This Product *Hobonichi Techo Official Store Exclusives
*Not-Scary Bear Paperweight
*Ballpoint pen- More Information
- Order NowDetails
- Covers for This Book
- A6 Size Cover Lineup
- OriginalOriginal
Avec 
- Language
- Japanese
- Size
-
A6 W 105 mm / 4.1” H 148 mm / 5.8” T 14 mm / 0.6” 8 mm / 0.3"
× 2 books - Weight
- Approx. 208 gApprox. 117 g
per book - Dates
- January Start:
January -
DecemberApril Start:
April 2019 -
March 2020Book1:
January -
June
Book2:
July -
December - First Day of the Week
- Sunday start /
Monday startMonday start - Daily Page
- Weekly Page
- Monthly Page
- Yearly Calendar
- Other Pages
-
- Memo Page
- Time Table
- Graph Paper
- Favorites
- Words to Remember (Japanese)
- Tips on Living Life in a Good Mood (Japanese)
- Breakfast around the World (Japanese)
- Introduction to Reading Classical Literature (Japanese)
- Solar Terms (Japanese)
- Emergency Preparedness (Japanese)
- Conversion Chart
- Useful Links (Japanese)
- Gifts
- Age Table
- Addresses
- Personal Notes
- Included With This Product *Hobonichi Techo Official Store Exclusives
- *Not-Scary Bear Paperweight
*Ballpoint pen - More Information
- Order NowDetails
- Covers for This Book
- A6 Size Cover Lineup
- CousinCousin
Avec 
- Language
- Japanese
- Size
-
A5 W 148 mm / 5.8” H 210 mm / 8.3” T 17 mm / 0.7” 10 mm / 0.4"
× 2 books - Weight
- Approx. 482 gApprox. 278 g
× 2 books - Dates
- January Start:
January -
DecemberApril Start:
April 2019 -
March 2020Book1:
January -
June
Book2:
July -
December - First Day of the Week
- Monday start
- Daily Page
- Weekly Page
- Monthly Page
- Yearly Calendar
- Other Pages
-
- Memo Page
- Time Table
- Graph Paper
- Favorites
- Words to Remember (Japanese)
- Tips on Living Life in a Good Mood (Japanese)
- Breakfast around the World (Japanese)
- Introduction to Reading Classical Literature (Japanese)
- Solar Terms (Japanese)
- Emergency Preparedness (Japanese)
- Conversion Chart
- Useful Links (Japanese)
- Gifts
- Age Table
- Addresses
- Personal Notes
- Included With This Product *Hobonichi Techo Official Store Exclusives
- *Not-Scary Bear Paperweight
*Ballpoint pen - More Information
- Order NowDetails
- Covers for This Book
- A5 Size Cover Lineup
- WeeksWeeks
Mega 
- Language
- Japanese
- Size
-
Slim wallet size W 95 mm / 3.7” H 187 mm / 7.4” T Approx.
10 mm / 0.4”Approx.
13 mm / 0.5” - Weight
- Approx. 130 gApprox. 190 g
- Dates
- January Start:
January -
DecemberApril Start:
April 2019 -
March 2020January -
December - First Day of the Week
- Monday start
- Daily Page
- Weekly Page
- Monthly Page
- Yearly Calendar
- Other Pages
-
- Shorthand Note-Taking (Japanese)
- Graph Paper
- Using Common Items to Measure Size
- Solar Terms (Japanese)
- Tips on Living Life in a Good Mood (Japanese)
- Breakfast around the World (Japanese)
- Introduction to Reading Classical Literature (Japanese)
- Emergency Preparedness (Japanese)
- Conversion Chart
- Useful Links (Japanese)
- Age Table
- Contacts List
- Personal Notes
- Included With This Product *Hobonichi Techo Official Store Exclusives
*Ballpoint pen- More Information
- Order NowDetails
- Covers for This Book
- Book Lineup
- 5-Year TechoLarge
5-Year Techo 
- Language
- Japanese
- Size
-
A6 A5 W 113 mm / 4.4” 156 mm / 6.1” H 153 mm / 6.0” 214 mm / 8.4” T 25 mm / 0.8" 25 mm / 1.0" - Weight
- Approx. 340 gApprox. 680 g
- Dates
- January 2019 -
December 2023 - First Day of the Week
- N/A
- Daily Page
- Weekly Page
- Monthly Page
- Yearly Calendar
- Other Pages
-
- Yearly memo pages (2019 - 2023)
- Remember This
- Gifts
- Addresses
- My Lists
- Human History
- Personal Notes
- Included With This Product *Hobonichi Techo Official Store Exclusives
*Not-Scary Bear Paperweight- More Information
- Order NowDetails
- Covers for This Book
- Book Lineup
Guide to Choosing a Hobonichi Techo with Professor Techo
- Q1.) What should I use for my first book?
- If you’re not looking for anything in particular, I recommend the Planner. This is the English-translated version of the Original with slight design changes, and the Original already has 18 years of polishing and improvements under its belt!
The other versions were created years after the Original, in response to customers who used the Original and let us know what other features they were looking for. So give the English-version a shot to keep things easy, and once you’re familiar with it, you’ll know if you’d rather switch to a Cousin so you can write more in your entries, or a Weeks so you can view a week at a glance.
- Q2.) I want a light book!
- If you want the lightest book in the lineup, then the Weeks is for you. The book weighs a mere 140 g (5 oz) and fits easily into the pocket of a suit or bag. Although the book is slim, the Weeks has a formidable number of blank memo pages. And if “lots” of memo pages aren’t enough for you, we’ve got the Weeks Mega, which has “tons” of memo pages. (That is, three times the number of the standard Weeks!)
- Q3.) I want a lightweight daily planner.
- If you want to cut down the weight of your book but still have a full year’s worth of daily pages, then the two-book Avec set is a good choice. Because the year is split into six months per book, each slimmed-down book is half the weight of its full-year counterpart.
There is an Avec two-book edition for the A6 Original and A5 Cousin. The individual books fit into the same covers as the standard full-year books, so you can still shop for whichever cover strikes your fancy. The Avec is also great for users who want to paste all kinds of things into their books, as it prevents the book from getting too bulky.
- Q4.) I want to keep a parenting diary / work notebook.
- The Cousin is good if you’re using the book in a way that you can leave it on a desk at home or at work, and not carry it around. It’s great for collecting a lot of information into a single book, and although the quotes are in Japanese, the book is super easy to use, even for English speakers. There’s plenty of space in each page, so you’ve got room to tape in photos, notes, paperwork, and much more. The Cousin also has an exclusive section: the weekly pages! It’s perfect for scheduling and allows you to see a full week at a glance. If you’d like to carry the book around but don’t want the extra weight, you can use the lighter Cousin Avec two-book set, or downsize to an A6 Planner or Original.
- Q5.) I’d like to use two books together. What do you recommend?
- Users who have kept multiple books have commonly told us how they set a theme for each individual book. For example, they set a theme for each book before they start using it: a diary, a study notebook, a sports fan’s team-tracking notebook, a shared family notebook, a health tracker, or other kind of notebook. That allowed them to know what to write in which book.
So if you’d like to use more than one book, it’s probably easiest to start by establishing what you’d like to write or keep track of in each.
- Q6.) I don’t write much, though…
- Ah, yes. The first thing I would like to say is, “That’s fine!”
The most important thing is having a comfortable experience using your book. If you only write in it once in a while when you actually feel like writing, that’s more than enough.
Because we’ve been talking about things to keep in mind when choosing a techo, if you’ve already used the Hobonichi Techo and were particularly bothered by blank pages, it might help to get a book with smaller spaces for each entry. That would be the Weeks book or the 5-Year Techo. There’s a certain joy that comes from writing in every day’s entry. (But if you ask me, I see no problem with a blank techo.)
But if you’ve never used a Hobonichi Techo, I recommend the Planner. I think you’ll be surprised at how many things you can casually jot down into it. It’s also very easy to fill in your book with the simple act of taping things into the pages. Try taping in ticket stubs, sticky notes jotted with self-reminders or notes to you, washi tape, stickers, even wrappers or other things that could make people tilt their head. Give it a try, and you’ll see just how fun it can get.
So, I’ve given you advice on choosing a techo, but another way of looking at it is that if something vaguely tugs at you, maybe it’s fate! We’ve often heard users say, “I really liked one of the cover designs, so I just bought the book that fit it. It was a different size than I’ve always used, but now I love it.” It may be a tough decision, but I think the one you finally decide on is the best choice for that year, so don’t worry!
I hope you have an enjoyable time picking out your techo!Relax, and have fun. Good luck!