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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- Day-Free
- A6 & A5 Size
- One Page Per Day
- Japanese
- The Day-Free combines a monthly calendar with a graph paper notebook.
The book comes in A6 and A5 sizes. - See More
- Cousin
- A5 Size
- One Page Per Day
- English / Japanese
- A Japanese daily planner with a colorful design and roomy layout.
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- Weeks
- Slim Vertical Size
- Weekly Format
- English / Japanese
- A Japanese planner with a week per page format and plenty of blank graph paper.
- See More
- 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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- HON
- A6 Size
- One Page Per Day
- Japanese
- A Japanese planner with a hardcover design already attached to the book.
- See More
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
-
- Important Contacts
- International Size Charts
- Conversion Table
- My 100
- Express Youself in Japanese
- Anko - the Secret of Japanese Sweets
- Personal Notes
- Included With This Product *Hobonichi Techo Official Store Exclusives*Store Exclusives are available while supplies last
- Almost Precious Item Bag
- Ballpoint pen
- More Information
- Order NowDetails*Store Exclusives are available while supplies last
- 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 2023 -
March 2024Book1:
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
-
- Time Table
- Graph Paper
- Favorites
- My 100
- Solar Terms
- My Favorite Things
- How to Better Enjoy Conversation
- Enjoy Learning at the Hobonichi School
- Emergency Preparedness
- Conversion Chart
- Getting the most of Hobonichi
- Gifts
- Age Table
- Addresses (for 6 people)
- Personal Notes
Book 1 and 2 both include the same bonus pages as the Original
- Included With This Product *Hobonichi Techo Official Store Exclusives
-
- Almost Precious Item Bag
- Ballpoint pen
- More Information
- Order NowDetails*Store Exclusives are available while supplies last
- Covers for This Book
- A6 Size Cover Lineup
- Day-Free
(A6)Day-Free
(A5) 
- Language
- Japanese
- Size
-
A6 A5 W 105 mm / 4.1” 148 mm / 5.8” H 149 mm / 5.9” 210 mm / 8.3” T 8 mm / 0.3” 8 mm / 0.3” - Weight
- Approx. 117 gApprox. 230 g
- Dates
- December 2022 -
March 2024 - First Day of the Week
- Monday start
- Daily Page
- Weekly Page
- Monthly Page
- Yearly Calendar
- Other Pages
-
- Time Table
- Graph Paper
- Favorites
- My 100
- Solar Terms
- My Favorite Things
- How to Better Enjoy Conversation
- Enjoy Learning at the Hobonichi School
- Emergency Preparedness
- Conversion Chart
- Getting the most of Hobonichi
- Gifts
- Age Table
- Addresses
- Personal Notes
- Included With This Product *Hobonichi Techo Official Store Exclusives
- Ballpoint pen
- More Information
- Order NowDetails*Store Exclusives are available while supplies last
- Covers for This Book
- A6 Size Cover LineupA5 Size Cover Lineup
- CousinCousin
Avec 
- Language
- JapaneseEnglishJapanese
- Size
-
A5 W 148 mm / 5.8” H 210 mm / 8.3” T 17 mm / 0.6” 10 mm / 0.4"
× 2 books - Weight
- Approx. 482 gApprox. 278 g
× 2 books - Dates
- January Start:
January - DecemberApril Start:
April 2023 -
March 2024January - DecemberBook1:
January - June
Book2:
July - December - First Day of the Week
- Monday start
- Daily Page
- Weekly Page
- Monthly Page
- Yearly Calendar
- Other Pages
-
- Time Table
- Graph Paper
- Favorites
- My 100
- My Favorite Things
- How to Better Enjoy Conversation
- Gifts
- Addresses (for 8 people)
- Personal Notes
- Solar Terms
- Enjoy Learning at the Hobonichi School
- Emergency Preparedness
- Age Table
- Conversion Chart
- Getting the most of Hobonichi
- Words to Remember
- 365 Days Check-Off Sheet
Book 1 and 2 both include the same bonus pages as the Cousin (Japanese edition)
- Included With This Product *Hobonichi Techo Official Store Exclusives
-
- Almost Precious Item Bag
- Ballpoint pen
- More Information
- Order NowDetails*Store Exclusives are available while supplies last
- Covers for This Book
- A5 Size Cover Lineup
- WeeksWeeks
Mega 
- Language
- JapaneseEnglishJapaneseEnglish
- Size
-
Slim wallet size W 94 mm / 3.7” H 188 mm / 7.4” T Approx.
10 mm / 0.4”Approx.
13 mm / 0.5” - Weight
- Approx. 130 gApprox. 186 g
- Dates
- January Start:
January - DecemberApril Start:
April 2023 -
March 2024January - December - First Day of the Week
- Monday start
- Daily Page
- Weekly Page
- Monthly Page
- Yearly Calendar
- Other Pages
-
- Shorthand Note-Taking
- Using Common Items to Measure Size
- My 100
- My Favorite Things
- How to Better Enjoy Conversation
- Contact List
- Personal Notes
- Solar Terms
- Emergency Preparedness
- Age Table
- Conversion Chart
- Getting the most of Hobonichi
- Favorites
- 365 Days Check-Off Sheet
Contains nearly three times the number of blank graph paper pages
- Included With This Product *Hobonichi Techo Official Store Exclusives
-
- Ballpoint pen
- More Information
- Order NowDetails*Store Exclusives are available while supplies last
- 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 / 1.0" 25 mm / 1.0" - Weight
- Approx. 340 gApprox. 680 g
- Dates
- January 2023 -
December 2027 - First Day of the Week
- N/A
- Daily Page
- Weekly Page
- Monthly Page
- Yearly Calendar
- Other Pages
-
- Yearly Memo Page (2023 - 2027)
- Remember This
- Gifts
- Addresses
- My Lists
- My Favorite Things
- Personal Notes
- Included With This Product *Hobonichi Techo Official Store Exclusives
- Almost Precious Item Bag
- More Information
- Order NowDetails*Store Exclusives are available while supplies last
- Covers for This Book
- Book Lineup
- HON
- Language
- Japanese
- Size
-
A6 W 110 mm / 4.3” H 156 mm / 6.1” T 16 mm / 0.6” - Weight
- Approx. 223 g
- Dates
- January Start:
January - December - First Day of the Week
- Monday start
- Daily Page
- Weekly Page
- Monthly Page
- Yearly Calendar
- Other Pages
-
- Time Table
- Graph Paper
- Favorites
- My 100
- Solar Terms
- My Favorite Things
- How to Better Enjoy Conversation
- Enjoy Learning at the Hobonichi School
- Emergency Preparedness
- Conversion Chart
- Getting the most of Hobonichi
- Gifts
- Age Table
- Addresses (for 6 people)
- Personal Notes
- Included With This Product *Hobonichi Techo Official Store Exclusives*Store Exclusives are available while supplies last
-
- Almost Precious Item Bag
- Ballpoint pen
- More Information
- Order NowDetails*Store Exclusives are available while supplies last
- Covers for This Book
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 more than 20 years of polishing and improvements under its belt!
To mention others, the Day-Free might be a good option, although it's a bit unique. See this page for more information, but simply put, it's a Hobonichi Techo you can use like a notebook. Some of you may think that Hobonichi Techo's all have a page per day and is hard to keep up, but the daily page section equivalent of the Day-Free are all memo pages. It's perfect for beginners because you don't have to worry about the dates. So give the English-version or the Day-Free 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 you can get, consider the Avec 6-month techo. It was created in response to requests for a light, portable daily planner, and is half the thickness and weight of its A6 Original and A5 Cousin full-year counterparts. This makes it easy to carry everywhere you go. We also recommend the Weeks, which weighs a mere 140 g (5 oz) and fits easily into the pocket of a suit or bag. The Day-Free is a good option too. Like the Avec, it's half the weight of the standard Original or Cousin, and contains monthly calendars and plenty of blank graph paper pages for taking notes.
- Q3.) 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.
- Q4.) 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.
- Q5.) 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.
If you're still feeling a bit uncertain, what about trying out the Day-Free that doesn't have the daily pages? It's perfect for writing whenever you feel like it.
Also, this is a bit different to choosing a techo, but 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.
- Q6.) I want to use the Hobonichi Techo, but all I need is a monthly calendar.
- Well, then the Day-Free sounds like the perfect techo for you!
Simply put, the Day-Free is a techo that's like a notebook. It does come with a monthly calendar, but the rest of the book is blank graph-paper notebooks you can use any way you like. There's also a little treat in the corner of the notebook pages. It's lightweight and thin, so you can use it with ease.
I hope you have an enjoyable time picking out your techo!Relax, and have fun. Good luck!