The Male Hysteric

It’s that time of year again, and by that time of year, I mean it’s Hobonichi preview month. This is a very exciting time of year for people with a very particular interest and I am going to lead you down another Japanese stationery rabbit hole that you probably don’t know about and won’t understand.

Hobonichis are a type of planner by the company Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun which was first released in Japan in 2002 and in English (and therefore overseas) in 2013. Planners in general have their own kind of hobby base that exists at this weird nexus of actually using a planner for its intended purpose, journaling, and scrapbooking, and attracts everyone from busy students to moms recording “baby’s first” everything to Every Day Carry guys. The big name planner stateside is probably the Erin Condren system, though other popular systems are Midori Traveler’s planners and the Bullet Journal, which can use any kind of notebook, along with many others. There are a few things that make Hobonichi planners stand out, and that’s the paper, the organization, and the yearly release. The paper is somewhat unique because instead of no-name paper of variable quality, Hobonichis are printed with paper that can withstand all sorts of media, up to and including watercolor. The main setups for Hobonichi planners are one page every day rather than month or weekly spreads, gearing it towards scrapbookers or very determined journalers or otherwise people who are very busy and need all the space. And, of course, every year they put out entirely new covers and designs, making each year’s edition collectible, and everyone loves collectibles. This has led to an extremely aesthetic following on sites like Instagram and Pinterest.

They are bizarrely expensive for what they are and for the year of 2019, I have two:

And yes, I do use these, though the one on the left much more than the one on the right. The one on the right is mostly for drawings, and I haven’t kept up with that much.



The one on the left is an actual planner, a book I use to keep track of things like doctors appointments, workout reps, and how much I hate myself on a given day.




Does this actually keep me on task and prepared more than actually putting alerts in my phone like a normal person? Probably not. But hey, everyone needs a hobby.

This is not a paid endorsement. I have not received any compensation for this post.