People who knows us are aware that in this time of year starts the big hunt to the diary that will accompany us throughout the year to come. Let’s see what are the proposals for 2012 from our favorite brands!
Sanrio, as usual, covers us with diaries! Hello Kitty fans are really spoiled for choice between ring diaries and large and small books. There are also the “zipper” agendas, sprouted in recent years, including a sealed bag. Of course, we love the pastel Little Twin Stars diaries and the pop-style ones dedicated to My Melody. Do not miss Cinnamoroll, this year with a ribboned version.
San-x diaries are significantly less, but they have that ace called Sentimenal Circus, which outperforms the competition! Keep an eye on Rilakkuma diaries, which are often proposed in a “deluxe” version with an embroidered fabric cover.
Finally, here is our beloved Jetoy that, as usual, has a few diaries, but one more beautiful than the other! In addition to classic pocket schedule books, there are also bigger diaries for use at home or office and beautiful calendars/diaries for your desk (complete with built-in notepad).
Buying guide.
Have you made your choice? Below you can find some useful informations if you want to venture in the purchase of a Japanese diary!
- The best sites where you can go shopping are Strapya World, which has a wide selection of diaries by Sanrio, San-x, Disney and Studio Ghibli, and the everlasting eBay, where you can also find Jetoy.
- Always pay close attention to the “content” of the diary. In fact, you can find “datebook” and “schedule book”! The first are the monthly calendar diaries, while the latter also have the weekly pages. So, pay attention to the description or the pictures of the diary you like! Personally, I prefer the weekly: I like to have in my bag a small book with more space for my not so small handwriting. If you’re university students, the schedule books are very comfortable: smaller than a classic diary but with all the space you need!
- If you have at home an old ringed schedule book you want to renovate, why not buy refills? These are “loose” pages with holes fitting your diary, often accompanied by a few sheets of stickers. Obviously, pay attention to the right measures!
- On eBay is quite common to find also diaries made for the Chinese market. Do not worry, they are as excellent as the Japanese “cousins”: I bought a couple of them and they are great!
- You do not know Japanese/Chinese/Korean? No problem: kawaii diary are all bilingual or in English.
We have made our choice (guess what), and you? What schedule book have you chosen or will you choose for 2012?
My kawaii diaries: My Melody and Kuromi refill 2007 (jp), Kuromi schedule book 2008 (hk), Hello Kitty diary 2009 (it), Rilakkuma schedule book 2010 (jp), Choo Choo schedule book 2011 (kr).