Review: Kokuyo Campus Notebook

I was looking through a nearby Japanese surplus store in our neighborhood when I saw this notebook along with other piles of notebooks stacked in a corner. I have this habit of buying notebooks even when I don’t need them because…well, who knows when you might need them, right? So I bought one and, fast forward to a few days later, I went back to buy the rest of their stock.

Kokuyo Campus Notebook looks like something I would have enjoyed back in college. It’s a simple notebook. The cover isn’t very impressive. It looks like something you’d take to school with you (or where you’d scribble down mad ideas and formulas). Definitely not a looker. Also, it’s P40 (a bit less than $1).

For the price of Php40, I was so surprised that the paper was excellent. It was smooth but has some texture to it. It shows the shading of the ink well. There’s also minimal show through and absolutely no bleed through even when I used my 1.5mm nib on it. Here are a few close ups of the writing sample:

I’d say that’s pretty nice. The per is nicer than some of the journals I bought that are much more expensive. Since I was already in the store, I also bought this cute little pen tray: