June 2025 Printable

 June is here and it heralds summer in many parts of the world. 

We have designed a printable this month with the ever loved motif of a Japanese wind chime!

Download here: PDF

For ibon/netprint information, please see our instagram post.

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Review: LIHIT LAB Customize Open Ring A6 Notebook

Popular Japanese stationery brand LIHIT LAB has recently released a series of customized open ring notebooks where you can choose the style of covers, color of ring spine and the inserts you would like in it.

We picked up the basic pieces to try it out!

The A6 notebook open ring spine comes in a wide range of colors and will hold inserts with 17holes.

There are also lots of different color covers to choose from. Since they sold piece by piece, you can choose different colors for the front and back covers. I bought the one below to be the back cover.

For the cover, I chose something that was a little different.

The pocket type cover

The pocket cover is made up of two sheets of clear plastic that stick together with sticky dots on the inside of it. This allows you to insert whatever you like inside, making it truly customizable. It is also useful as a spare pocket!

There are many other inserts available other than the usual array of papers. Such a clear pockets, sticky notes sheet, hard plastic for writing on etc etc

I'm currently using mine as a travel notebook.

What do you think? Would you get one?

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Review: Anterique's Scribble Notebook

 

Antereique is a Japanese brand that makes retro inspired ballpoint pens. 

They had a booth at Bungo Joshi and I picked up this interesting notebook. 

The scribble notebook is a handheld ringbound notepad. 

The front of the notebook is protected by a plastic sheet and the pages are cut so that it fits a mini pen.

The notebook measures 128 by 91mm and the paper is 5mm grid. 

I like the compact size of the notebook, it's definitely one I can throw in my bag and not worry about the weight. 

The notebook is secured with a rubber band, and the front is protected by a plastic sheet. 

These sound like good additions until you realise it's to keep the pen in it's holding spot and secure it when not in use. 

The pen itself is a pretty standard ballpoint pen, nice to hold and a cute retro design, which Anterique is know for. 

 

Speaking of the holding spot for the pen. 

It's quite interesting that it's carved into the notepaper. 

This does mean you have less usable writing space, but you might never lose your pen, that is, if you always return it to the same spot. 

I think this notebook is a cute concept, I'll definitely use it for awhile and see how that feels. 

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Review: Benwuyou Five Hole Punch

 In Japan, its more common to find 20 ring files than the usual 6 ring files. However its hard to find the right type of hole punch. Usually its made of metal fully making it very expensive or you have to resort to buying a one hole punch and punching out all the holes by yourself. Even then, those are usually quite bulky and hard to store. Not to mention quite tedious to use.

Recently, I chanced upon this 

5 Hole Punch

To use simply line your paper against the guide on the long part of the punch.

After pushing down on the top part, you will have 5 holes punched out.

To punch more holes like 20 holes for your file, simply feed the paper back in and line it up as belows.

To empty the punched out paper, simply pop the bottom lid open. 

At first I was certainly dubious as to how well this could work but it does the job perfectly!

Its also lighter and more compact than most other options whilst being easier to use as well.

What do you think?

Would you try it? 

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