Clean construction with obligatory stickers.

I’ve had this Paper Penguin Co. Shiraoi Paper notebook for a while. I pulled it out when I was trying to find the next daily journal to write in. I did a comparison of a few and the texture of the Shiraoi got me interested enough to play with it. This grid-ruled insert lasted about a month and a half with its 80 pages. I specifically had the white paper, but a cream is also available.

I wanted to do a little research about where this paper came from because I haven’t seen it used very often. The paper gets its name from the city where it is made - Shiraoi, Japan. The factory is part of the Nippon Paper Company which owns paper factories all over Japan. Other than some news articles that say they may be closing down several machines at this factory (unsure if this writing paper will be one of them) between 2025 and 2027, I wasn’t able to find out much more about it.

Paper Penguin describes the paper as smooth, fountain pen friendly, and bleed/feathering resistant. Other reviewers have commented that it is a decent tomoe river replacement. I, unfortunately, did not have that experience with it. Paper Penguin makes great notebooks, she does a great job at putting them together. I have had and used quite a few over the years (mostly tomoe river and onion skin), but the guts of this particular notebook are not my jam.

The paper itself is smooth to write on and feels dry. It has a texture that is visible and when held up to the light there isn’t any particular direction that the paper grain goes in. This dryness did allow inks to dry quickly, but it really toned down any shading or sheen that may otherwise be there with a more coated paper.

Shimmer shows up pretty decently, but shading is harder to get.

In the batch of paper in my notebook, the “feathering/bleed-through resistant” quality was incredibly hit or miss. Some pages were fine even with really wide nibs and others would have ink splotching its way through to the other side with a medium nib. I’m fine with ghosting, but bleed-through can be a deal breaker for me. What kinds of inks that bled-through was also not very consistent. Wetter inks always dotted through, but sometimes even a drier ink in a wide nib would come through the other side.

Amarillo Azul Frida with a M nib. Paper held up really well when loading stickers and other ephemera on it.

I would say the claim that this is similar to tomoe river paper isn’t very accurate. Even Sanzen tomoe river paper has behaved better for me than this one did. I’d be interested to know if this paper was designed to be a writing paper or if it, like many others, was manufactured for a different purpose and just happens to also be used as writing paper. It’s really lacking the smoothness of many other Japanese papers. It reminds me a little bit of washi paper, but more fountain pen “friendly”.

If you are primarily a small nib and/or drier ink user, this paper will probably work pretty well for you. However, as a broad nib user I think this notebook is a one and done.

Currently Inked

Same as last week, but am spending some time cleaning them out and switching out some inks. I think a cozy gray is in order and maybe a whimsical blue or green.

Tomoe River Dupe? Shiraoi Paper Review

Dainty Trinket: FWP Bijou Fountain Pen