Hobonichi Cousin A5 week 1 + preliminary thoughts

[halfcactus]

Thought it was time to """upgrade""" to—not just a Hobonichi, but a daily journal—since I had gotten more and more consistent in my paper planner/journal use over the years and was writing enough for weekly spreads to feel like not enough space. Of course, last year was my manhwa brainrot year, eventually cured by a persistent fever at the end of 2025, so I had a lot to say. But now all I do is exist in that kind of outlet-less anxiety that leads to hours of pacing in circles or staring into space, so... we'll see.

I also got a pocket diary as a gift last year and was trying to keep it as a separate work planner to make it easier to keep track of my notes, but my brain ABSOLUTELY could not stand the separation. I very unfortunately need everything in one chaotic notebook to function. Work-life balance?


Anyway the tl;dr of it is that after a week of trial and error and mental anguish I think I've decided to use the Cousin's weekly spreads for work and hourly notes, and daily pages for personal notes. Them being in separate sections may still end up driving me crazy but you'll never know until you try.


First impressions of Hobonichi Cousin:

First of all, the paper! I'm used to thicker and creamier paper so I thought I'd dislike this, but I had no problems adjusting and I find the shade of white quite pleasant. It might also help that the color accents for January are a warm and inviting shade of red. I'm worried about the green and blue months haha but maybe by then I'll be too used to everything to notice.

About how it handles ink: It's more prone to smudging for me, but not to a degree that annoys me (maybe because I don't write very much). My highlighters feel so wet on application I feel like I should let the ink dry a bit before adding another swipe of color but I, with my lack of patience,... do not. Everything seems fine, though, mostly just some ghosting and bleeding which I guess is not unexpected. I vaguely remember Jessica Hische (I think???) saying somewhere that she puts dark paper underneath her pages, maybe I should try that someday. (She's not a Hobonichi user [that I know of], I just suddenly remembered this tip.)

PENS:
My Mildliners seem to set more easily than my Stabilo highlighters but I'll need to experiment more. My default pen, a Platinum Preppy (0.3) loaded with carbon black ink, suddenly feels too strong and heavy for writing so I've been favoring regular gel pens—currently, a Uni ball one 0.38, as well as old colored pens in my drawer.

SIZE:
Wow she's so thick! Even with my backpack I struggle to carry her around. But I did take her out today, and as someone who usually can't take my journal out in public out of sheer self-consciousness, it was easy enough to flip from weekly (to finish up work stuff) to daily.


WEEK 1 PHOTOS:
Some of it is kinda ugly but it's an honest representation of my days and my lack of thought, and it's funny to see myself struggle with the layout.

It was so hard trying to fill up pages on days I didn't eat out, but I didn't want my journal to reflect that I was a loser, so I dug really deep. And made myself watch episodes 1 and 2 of Hana Kimi.

Imgur album link


https://imgur.com/igm1ZWM


https://imgur.com/93ddtqk


https://imgur.com/3meWIvA
(I promise I know how to write 已經.........)


https://imgur.com/qeyLUjn


Btw I worked really hard on the Ghibli paper theater thing. I'm not crafty so I had to find a Youtube video for the first two layers and by the end of it my deskmat was so sticky with glue residue. I probably spent longest on the joints—the last part, to put everything together!—but the end result was so cute and worth the feeling of hopelessness from not being able to stop until I finished.