The notebook has a soft cover and squared spine– it looks very much like the Hobonichi Techo, even down to the grey endpapers. The cover texture is smoother than the Hobonichi, and the corners are rounded to a larger diameter. (I wish more people would do really tight corners like the Hobonichi.) Most people know the A2 is half the size of A1, and A4 is half the size of A3. The B sizes work in the same way, with the B2 being half the size of the B1, and so on. Essentially, the B sizes fit roughly in between the A sizes, so that B6 is halfway in size between A5 and A6. Although the B sizes in the West have been valuable for certain applications in the printing industry – the B7 for passports, for instance, and the B5 for books – in Japan it has had a much wider use as a popular size for many magazines, posters, newspapers and books. It was introduced to Japan in 1929 when the Japanese Engineering Standards (JES) set up parameters for new A and B sizes, initially adopting measurements from Germany, and then developing unique variants for the B series. It is still a standard size for Japanese newspapers. We get asked a lot whether Hobonichi or Stalogy is better, and which one people should buy. It’s a difficult question, as they’re both rather different but I’ll run through the key features of each! Comparing the Hobonichi Cousin and the Stalogy A5 365 Day Notebook The Stalogy Series of Notebooks draws on the heritage of both the A and B sizes, giving the best of both worlds, East and West, and offering a fantastic variety for our many different needs and desires.

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The Verdict – It’s a very tough call, so I’m going to give a bit of a cop out answer. Both books are brilliant but have quite different uses. The Hobonichi Cousin is very obviously a yearly planner. If you’re looking to plan out what you’re up to, or keep memories of what you’ve done, then this book is ideal. The Stalogy on the other hand is much more flexible, it can be used as a yearly planner, but can just as easily be a notebook for jotting down work or notes from a lecture you attended. Use it to draw, or sketch (as this notebook is also available with plain or dotted paper!).