Hey everyone, it's Liam from the Techo Team. It's nearly Christmas, have you got all your presents wrapped? Come and take a little break from the festivities and join me on my techo reflection.

Here are the techos I used this year:

I used an Original for work and a Cousin as my personal diary. Can you see them?

First of all, I'd like to take this opportunity to say "Thankyou Hobonichi Techo." Many of you may not know, but I've had a massive change this year, I joined Hobonichi! Because of that, this year became more “techo-filled” than any before. (Which makes all these blank pages rather mysterious... doesn’t it?)
Now with the thanks out of the way, allow me to introduce two of my favorite pages from this year.



If chocolate isn't chocolate, then what is it?

This may not resonate much unless you grew up in the UK, but do you know a snack called a Penguin? It’s been around forever—the kind of small reward you’d find tucked into a school lunchbox. That Penguin, however, can no longer call itself “chocolate.” Due to market conditions and the rising cost of cocoa, the amount used had to be reduced. The moment I heard that news, I must have hurriedly scribbled it down—half shocked, half exasperated. I don’t usually write in English in my techo, so realizing that this was the thing that made me do it gave me a quiet chuckle.

Apparently, if cocoa falls below a certain percentage, calling something “chocolate” is legally off-limits. I won’t get into the details here, but there’s one thing I want to say.

What a strange time we live in.
Something that had been “chocolate” since childhood—something that carried decades of identity—can suddenly let it all go, and quietly change.

Sure, it could be the inevitable result of late-stage capitalism or inflation or maybe it’s just the mood of the times.

Even the things we assume are unshakable can change before we notice. Perhaps, one day if I went home to the UK, there wouldn't be any 'home' left for me to go back to.



Thank you Jazz

In fact, even that home has undergone a big change whilst I've been away. This year, our beloved dog Jazz passed away. Another presence that was absolute—suddenly gone.
She hadn’t been in perfect health for some time, and while my mother was away on a long trip, she seemed terribly lonely. Still, Jazz endured. She waited, and waited. And a few days after being reunited with Mum, she quietly passed on.

This is the page from the day I received that news.

Being so far away, I sometimes wonder if I have the right to say this at all. But from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for holding on for Mum. You'll never understand how important that was for her.

I couldn’t say anything directly, so I poured all that gratitude and loneliness into this single page of my techo.

Within this page, you are still alive.
Within these words, too. I never imagined that not being able to say a proper goodbye would hurt this much and even now, it doesn’t quite feel real. But, while my cheeks are still warm with tears, let me add one more—but not final—“thank you.”

Your huge size only emphasizes the void that remains in your absence.
Thank you, Jazz.


In memory of Jazz.

Looking back, this year was filled with change.
Where I live.
How I work.
My family.
Even the country I grew up in.

Thanks to this Techo Reflection, I feel like I can finally understand—even if just a little—why I’m on this plane, heading to the UK right now, like a single puzzle piece clicking into place.

Jazz.
Hobonichi Techo.
Thank you for everything. Let's keep going into next year, too.

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This turned out more self-indulged and sad than I expected but there will be more cheerful posts from other team members again tomorrow.

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