Spring 2026 Stationery: The Cherry Blossom Notebooks I Bought
Contents
This post was automatically translated by AI from the Japanese original. Some photos show Japanese text.
I can never walk past a stationery section without popping in.
The selection is more or less the same everywhere, and yet I still can’t resist.
I keep vowing to use up what I have before buying anything new, and that vow is useless. Before I know it, my stationery has multiplied.
But time spent surrounded by stationery I love is pure bliss ♡
Spring means hay fever, so I don’t feel like going out much.
Instead, I set spring stationery on my desk and enjoy that.
Moleskine Sakura Collection
First up, the cherry blossom Moleskine!
Moleskine puts out a limited cherry blossom design every spring (this Sakura Collection is a Japan-only release).
The last few years, the designs didn’t really speak to me and I’d drifted away, but this year’s is exactly my taste!
The cover pattern looks like real cherry blossoms, and the touches of gold are lovely too.
I picked the ruled one
I use it as an all-purpose notebook: a journal, to-do lists, and anything that pops into my head.
Since I touch it every day, it should feel nice in the hand.
I don’t like rubbery-feeling covers, so a cloth cover makes me happy ♡
On top of that, the bottom right corner of the first few pages has a cherry blossom petal.
Printed page by page like a flip book, it goes from bud to full bloom.
A touch that feels like spring
I love the design, but Moleskine’s biggest drawback is that fountain pen ink bleeds through.
When I sort out my feelings and thoughts in a journal, I like using a fountain pen.
So I basically choose notebooks that I can write in with one.
I used a softcover Moleskine before, but with fountain pens and dark-coloured pens, the writing showed through to the back of the page. I heard pigment ink barely shows through, but I tried it and it still didn’t work.
A notebook that’s picky about pens is hard to live with.
This time I decided to shelve the fountain pen and write in this one with a black ballpoint, and bought it on that basis.
When I actually opened it, the paper was thicker than usual.
Could it be…?
I tried these:
- Sailor pigment ink, Sou-boku (a deep blue-black)
- Platinum MIXABLE INK in pink
- Pilot water-based ballpoint pen, V Corn
None of them bled through. They all worked!
Even stamps don’t bleed through!
What a happy surprise!
It looks perfect for journaling.
I like it so much that I’m thinking about buying another.
Starbucks Japan’s Sakura Campus Notebook
I bought it because of the cherry blossom cover.
The truth is, I’m not a fan of 5 mm grid paper.
My handwriting is big, so it doesn’t fit in 5 mm, but using four squares (1 cm) per character is too big.
It might be handy for drafting, four-panel comics, or anything where you want frames and guide lines.
I haven’t decided what to use it for yet.
Limited Rollbahn x Campus Notebook
I just said I don’t like grid paper, but in this collaboration with Campus (Kokuyo’s classic student notebook brand), the Rollbahn’s pages are ruled!
I bought it thinking it might be good for studying.
But it’s so nice I might be too afraid to use it. Ha ha.
Drawn In by Cherry Blossoms: My First Traveler’s Notebook
I picked up my first Traveler’s Notebook as a souvenir from my trip to Kyoto ♡
The reason I bought it is that someone had put a cherry blossom tag on the Kyoto Edition, and it looked so lovely ♡
I copied the whole look.
The Japanese pattern and the cherry blossom tag go perfectly together ♡
For the inside, I put in a Hobonichi Weeks (Hobonichi is a Japanese planner maker).
If you slip an elastic band between the cover and the Hobonichi, it opens perfectly flat at 180 degrees.
And you can write without the band getting in the way!!
The Tamagotchi cover was so cute that I brought it home.
I decided this year to put everything in a single planner. (When it comes to stationery, my willpower is weak 🤣)
The size feels great, and just holding it makes me happy.
The cream-coloured Tomoe River paper in the Hobonichi Weeks is lovely to write on, too, and it makes me want to write something, anything.
Right now I keep my daily schedule and to-dos in my main planner (in Japanese), so I plan to use the Hobonichi Weeks as a secondary notebook.
I’m still experimenting with how to use it.
What I like about the Traveler’s Notebook is that it’s slim, so it doesn’t get in the way even when it’s left open on my desk.
Next year, I might try using this Traveler’s Notebook as my main planner.
Decorating with Cherry Blossom Stickers and Washi Tape!
The cherry blossom viewing season is short.
It’s often still chilly or rainy, so the time you can actually spend under the blossoms is really brief.
I want to keep these dear, beautiful blossoms with me during my time at home too.
So I stick stickers on my notebooks, decorate them with washi tape, and enjoy little cherry blossoms.
Sticking cherry blossoms on my notebook
I also decorated the Traveler’s Notebook I carry around for quick notes with cherry blossoms.
Sticking cherry blossoms all over the TNP cover (TNP is Traveler’s Notebook Passport size)
Rollbahn Stencil Sheet
The habit tracker in my current planner works really well for me.
I wanted to make a habit tracker on any page I like, so I went looking for a stencil sheet.
I like big boxes.
For studying, that’s just the right size to note one lesson or the time spent.
After a lot of searching, I found a stencil sheet with grid squares, circles, and boxes, the shapes I’d use most (in Japanese).
It comes in three colours, and I chose gold.
Two squares (1 cm) of the Rollbahn’s grid make one box of the habit tracker.
There are also two circles, one smaller and one larger, which I use a lot for managing to-dos.
Have a lovely spring!
▼ My 2026 planner setup
My 2026 planner setup (in Japanese)
▼ A handy shortcut for people who stick photos in their planners and notebooks
How to build a Mac/iPhone shortcut that combines 16 photos into one PDF (in Japanese)
