February | 2020 | kimberly ah

My Kakimori Journal

Here it is! (Was it worth the wait?) After much deliberation, (You can ask Naoto how many times I picked up something and put it back, only to end up with something really basic!) I decided to go with a red leather cover and I stuck with the peacock blue book cloth for the back. I didn’t think the yellow and white book cloth would hold up well over time. Plus, I love red and I love blue, and the yellow doesn’t really fit my vibe…I couldn’t see myself really loving it once I got it home. Plus, I really wanted gold accents and that didn’t seem to fit with the yellow pattern vibe. I forgot to mention yesterday that you can also choose your binding colors and other accents for your book. We didn’t get a good picture of those options, but you can see them here. I didn’t add a pen loop or an elastic because I like a simple notebook, but seriously, you can have so much fun adding all the accouterments you like! If everything in my life could be these two colors, I would be happy. I ended up going with Fool’s Paper for my insides. It’s also a fountain pen friendly paper and when I tested it at the store, I loved how it worked with a 2B pencil, a fountain pen, and a regular thin gel pen. It’s so smooth! Because I could, I got a mix of lined, dot grid, plain, and grid papers. I also added an envelope to the back, because why not? In addition to my notebook, I bought a Kakimori postcard and this notepad.

The notepad has ten different kinds of black paper inside, with all sorts of textures. I sampled it in the store and thought it was fun, and I’m looking forward to using it in my Travelers Notebook and for little notes here and there. And I couldn’t pass up these cute birthday postcards that came with a tiny pencil so you can draw in flames for the number of candles the recipient is celebrating. Genius, right?

If you’re in Tokyo, I highly recommend Kakimori for stationery lovers. I made a small (A4 size) notebook, but they also offer A5 which would be an amazing size for a scrapbook if you filled it with one of the heavier paper options. It’s just such a neat experience to make something just for yourself…now to see if I can get into the habit of using it! I’ll report back!

Kakimori

It feels like we just got home from Japan…which could explain why all of our Japanese snacks and stationery treats are still sprawled across my desk and Christmas isn’t completely put away yet…but I digress.

Kakimori was one of my favorite stops this trip. It’s a notebook boutique where you can create your own completely custom notebook. Kakimori’s goal is “to re-evaluate the importance of writing.” Their philosophy is if you can build the perfect notebook, you will spend more time using it. That’s my goal…to use this notebook. There is a wall of cubbies where you choose your covers and guts. From book cloth covers, to fancy waxed paper covers and leather covers, the combinations were endless. I had such a hard time deciding. You can kind of get a peek of the options here. There is really something for everyone, and also their stock seems to change a bit over time. There were some samples with this grid book cloth that was so fabulous, I think it affected my decision-making because I was so bummed it wasn’t in stock for me to use. This was my choice…or so I thought. Once I decided on my covers, I moved on to choose the insides. At first I was dead set on Tomoe River paper, but I write on that every day in my Hobonichi and when I tested some other papers, I decided to go with something new. You could also choose black or kraft paper, book journal paper (where it had boxes to rate books and write mini synopses,) and other guided papers.
In addition to making your own notebook, Kakimori offers a wide range of fountain pens, pencils, and other writing utensils. I am not really a fountain pen user…I can’t get my handwriting to look nice when I write with one, but I always enjoy checking out various inks and pens while I’m shopping. They had a well-curated selection of other specialty pens and markers. I’m always on the look out for a good white or silver pen. I don’t neeeeeed any pencils, but I really loved the script on this French pencil. (I did not buy it because I have a lifetime supply of pencils and then some…) Once you choose your journal materials, it takes a bit of time for them to put it together. There is a little waiting room with finished journals you can purchase. Instead of sticking around the store, we decided to go to Dandelion Chocolate for a treat while we waited. That s’more thing on the right…I still dream about it.