Jibun Techo Mini Lite
I have to admit: sometimes I`m buying planners just because I`m curious about their paper!
Jibun Techo von Kokuyo was using Tomoe River Paper in their 2019 standard version and in their Idea notebooks.
The Biz version and their Life books were made out of MIO paper.
In 2020 they do not use Tomoe River Paper (=TRP) anymore but changed to their new THIN paper. Everything which was TRP in 2019 is now Thin paper.
Here is a very good explanation of this planner system on JetPens.
As I`m always on the hunt for paper which works well together with fountain pens I could not say no to this planner. I don`t know if I will really use it but I wanted to test it out for sure.
So here we are:
The new Jibun Techo Mini Lite!
This planner is in B6 slim size, the paper size itself is 112mm wide by 182mm high. The cover is 116x186mm. The cover is attached to the planner, it cannot be removed, just like the Weeks from Hobonichi.
They have various cover colors, I bought the one in blue:
The Lite version is really a "light" version of the normal standard version.
It has:
- yearly overview on two pages
- a yearly overview of 2020 and 2021 on one page
- a grid page to write down your dreams or goals of 2020
- 12 grid pages to write down any lists
- monthly overviews on two pages (from Dec19 to Mar20) including tracker options (like a gantt chart)
- weekly vertical overviews on two pages (25Nov19 to 10Jan21)
- 22 plain grid pages
- two pages, looking back to 2020 and preview to 2021
The overall grid size is 2.9mm.
The Lite version does not have the monthly gantt charts of the Standard version or the informational pages at the back.
They rather put together the monthly overview with the gantt chart.
And now the important things: paper + fountain pen ink!
I did not expect very much, having tried the Biz version with MIO paper before where a lot of my inks were bleeding through and hearing from Kokuyo that this Thin paper is sooo great to write on...
The new Thin paper feels a bit like TRP but is a bit thicker. The paper is not too smooth, for comparison the MIO paper did feel a bit "slick" to the fingertips, not this Thin paper, you can feel a bit of texture when you move over the paper with your fingertips.
And then my usual pen tests where I write with all my currently inked pens.
In addition I have used the Tombow dots pens, Zebra Mildlines and Caran d'Ache felt pens:
turning the page:
OK, I'm impressed!
There are only two inks which have bled through, these are notorious bleeding inks (which do not bleed on TRP but through a lot of other paper types). In addition I'm using these with a B nib so a lot of ink is put to paper.
These are the J Herbin Violette Pensee ink and the Levenger Claret ink.
But all the others are just fine, no bleeding at all, a bit of ghosting (but less than on TRP), no feathering at all!
Even the J Herbin Rose Cyclamen ink did not bleed through! And this is very impressing!
Even the Tombow dots and the Caran d'Ache pens look good. A very tiny bit of bleeding with the Caran d'Ache pens but only if you go over a spot various times.
The paper is very soft to write on but still gives a good feedback. It is not "slick", the pen does not slide around on this paper, but has a good grip.
My F nibs look a bit like M nibs on this paper due to the softness.
So overall this was a nice pleasant surprise. This Thin paper really holds up very well with fountain pens.
According Kokuyo they changed the paper to give people a better experience with Frixion pens which can be erased. TRP did not hold up very well while erasing anything, it got quite dented, but according to what I have read, the new Thin paper is working quite nicely with Frixion pens.
Now I have to figure out if I might use this planner for my tasks or not. I wanted to use my Take A Note A6 planner for my tasks as this has lovely 68gsm TRP but who knows.... I can already test the Jibun in December as the weekly overviews started with 25Nov.
Due to the small grid size this planner works better with any fine pens or with a very small handwriting.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about the new Jibun Techo Mini Lite planner!
Thank you very much and (planner) peace to everyone!
Andrea
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