Nanami Seven Seas MicroDot Grid Journal Review

I’m always on the lookout for a good journal. I also love Tomoe River paper. Therefore, I knew that the Nanami Seven Seas Journal was one I just had to try, and I love it. I recently grabbed their A5 “MicroDot” version.

Packaging and Presentation

The Seven Seas Journal arrives in your mailbox in more than just a mailing envelope. It comes in a well-constructed cardboard sleeve. This insures that your notebook arrives to you in pristine condition. If you read my Stalogy 365 review, that was one of my main critiques of what is otherwise a great journal. This is a nice added touch from Nanami Paper.

Appearance and Build

This is a solid, well-built journal. The pages are thread-bound. This allows the journal to open and lay flat. The pages are housed in an attractive cover. Blue coated fabric wraps around a thick piece of cardboard. It seems as if it would be fairly durable. I choose to carry it in a light-weight, leather cover that I purchased from here. However, I don’t think it’s probably necessary. The notebook looks like it would hold up well on its own.

Flip open the cover, and you’ll find 480 pages of dot-grid paper. It’s a unique kind of dot-grid, in that small dots are centered inside circles set in a grid 5 millimeters apart. It’s the paper, though, that sets this notebook apart.

Paper Quality

The Seven Seas journals feature Tomoe River paper, perhaps the highest-quality paper available today. Made in Japan, what sets Tomoe River apart is how it balances high performance with an extremely thin page. It’s 52 gsm paper (grams per square meter). As a point of reference, cheap copy paper is around 80 gsm. TR paper is really thin. However, it’s extremely smooth. Fountain pen users will tell you that it takes a ton of ink with very little bleed-through. Additionally, magic seems to happen when the nib hits the page. Colors just pop on Tomoe River. It’s always a delight to use. This Nanami notebook is no exception.

Other Features

The journal doesn’t come with a bookmark, as is common in most. However, it does include a page of pink blotter paper. As Tomoe River paper has a longer dry time than most, this comes in handy.

Overall Review

Nanami Paper appears to be a small California shop that imports Japanese stationery items. The Seven Seas MicroDot Grid Journal A5 runs $26. It’s an excellent notebook, and, given that it features the more-expensive and higher-quality Tomoe River pages, it’s a decent value.

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