Notebook Review: Takasago Premium Paper A5 Notebook

At a recent pen show, I picked up the Dominant Industry Takasago Fountain Pen Notebook (Blank, A5, $24).

I did a little online research and discovered that Takasago Paper Mill has been in business for over 110 years and in 2020, they developed the Premium Takasago Paper, a paper specifically designed for fountain pens and fountain pen inks. According to online sources, “Takasago Premium Paper enhances fountain pen ink shading traits, highlights bright, vivid ink shades, and has quick drying times suitable for note taking.”

It’s 87.9gsm, white and is being sold through Dominant Industry in this very simple softcover A5 Notebook. The cover has an embossed leather texture in the paperstock so it looks clean and minimal.

In my varied writing tests, the paper seems to perform pretty well with a variety of pen types. Fountain pen ink stayed clean and dried relatively quickly. Color remained true and there was no feathering of the fountain pen inks.

There is quite a bit of ghosting on the reverse side of the page but no true bleedthrough.

In a longer writing. test, the paper had a bit of feedback, just a little bit of tooth. With finer nibs, there is a bit of a pencil sound on the paper.

The ghosting on the back of the writing page is less evident but still noticeable.

My instinct is to compare Takasago to Midori MD Light paper in terms of overall feel. I did a little side-by-side test between Midori MD Light and Takasago and there are quite a few similarities in the overall feel of the paper. I do think that Midori MD lifts ink up on the paper a little bit more and the tooth gives pens a slightly different sound and feel. If you are a lover of Midori MD Light, I don’t think Takasago will be a paper you prefer over the Midori MD but if you are someone who is wanting something like Midor MD Light and not quite getting it, the Takasago might be the paper for you.

Its a nice paper overall and a well-constructed notebook. Has it become my new favorite paper? No. I still prefer Midori MD, Midori MD Cotton and Midori MD Light above this paper. But I wanted to try it and experience the texture and promises for myself.

Have you tried Takasago paper yet? How do you feel about it?

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Just a side note.

On a few pages, I was able to see the watermark on the paper which says “Three Diamonds”.

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DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Dromgoole’s for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.