This first image depicts back in 2001 when they first decided to make the Hobonichi Techo. The tale has been passed down through the generations, and it was called the
‘Meeting from Hell’.

The meeting itself lasted three days in a row, and one of the topics brought up during it was making the Hobonichi Techo. And the person who was assigned to head the project was a young woman still in college at the time.

Indeed, and she pulled it off.

Hmm, let’s see.
There seems to be this anecdote in the records from that time. At first the crew bought a whole bunch of techos already on the market to see if they could get some guidance, but the president, Shigesato Itoi, chided them.

The reason for that is still talked about to this day. He said, ’You’re not going to make something genuinely good just by looking at what’s already out there. It’s more difficult, and more important, to clarify what you want more than anything. Don’t you dare reference any of those products you bought.

This image shows the first edition Hobonichi Techo. The book and the cover were both a result of the team members—none of whom were experts—trying random things out and seeing what worked.

No, actually, things didn’t go too smoothly. They were excited that the product was completed and all ready to go, but at the final moment, they realized there was a possibility for the techo book binding to split.

That’s right. In the end, none of the book binding ended up splitting, but even just having it be a possibility would spoil the trust of customers. So the team had an entirely new run of books made that would definitely have the bookbinding secure, and sent another book to every customer who bought a Hobonichi Techo.

This means that everyone who ordered the first edition of the techo ended up getting two books, and almost all of the customers ended up giving the other copy to friends and family. This led to the Hobonichi Techo being passed from one person to another.