The Hobonichi Weeks is a slim, compact horizontal weekly planner offered each year in a variety of designs. It features cream colored Tomoe River paper that many fans say is easier on the eyes than white paper.
Something about the Hobonichi Weeks form factor and layout seems to spur a wide variety of creative uses and, though the layout isn’t quite right to be my daily planner, it’s one of my favorite books.
Below are some examples of ways to use this highly portable planner, starting with the way I personally use it.
Hobonichi Weeks as a weekly trainer
The main part of the Weeks is laid out with the week on one page on the left side and blank grid paper on the right. I (and many others) have found this is the perfect layout for forming weekly habits, such as weekly hikes, spending time with loved ones, or this super cool example below from artist Authan Chen who used it to practice anatomical sketching all year:
Hobonichi Weeks as a commonplace book
The ample note pages in the back of the Weeks can make the book really fun for commonplace book, or a repository for knowledge, ideas, quotes, etc. Megan Rhiannon on YouTube does this and color codes her entries with Stalogy stickers:
Hobonichi Weeks as an ink swatch book
Alex from Yoseka Stationery has turned her Hobonichi weeks into a beautiful ink swatch book with a different coordinated color palette every week. She finds matching stickers and puts them on the right side, and it honestly looks like a ton of fun in addition to the final product being beautiful to look at. Some of her layouts help visualize similar colors side by side for easy comparison on TRP.
Hobonichi Weeks as a Bullet Journal
Lindsey Scribbles seems like the most consistent bullet journaler, at least in that she continuously uses the practice though she jumps around in different books. She uses a Weeks Mega, which has lots of extra note pages, for her daily log.
Another good one:
Hobonichi Weeks as a Playbook
Someone one said in the Facebook Hobonichi group that they documented the creation of a garden in a Hobonichi Weeks and use the book to loan out to friends who want to do the same project. She didn’t show her book, but I thought it was a brilliant idea for any repeatable time bound projects, especially if they follow seasons. Pick anything you do successfully—it could be something you learn, something you build, or anything that takes about a year to get results—then document what you do over the course of a year and take notes in the back. That book then becomes a playbook with instructions and exact, realistic timing for you or anyone else to do it again.
Hobonichi Weeks for Self Reflection
In another post I shared how I’m using a Hobonichi Weeks this year as an “Anti Social Social Journal” where I push myself to spend quality time with loved ones at least once a week and write reflections about how my interactions with different people make me feel. The process has had surprisingly therapeutic results.
Hobonichi Weeks as a Catalog
Similar to the ink swatch idea, you could ignore the dates in your Hobonichi Weeks and use the layout to catalog collections. If you’re into sneakers, Pokémon, books, antiques, you name it. Anything that can be broken into dozens of categories (colors, types, brands) can be neatly recorded in the Hobonichi Weeks format. An added bonus is, since the dates don’t actually matter for this use, you can use Hobonichi Weeks from previous years for this purpose, if you have any extra lying around or you like a design that has been retired already.
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