Traveler’s Notebook in Japan: Kyoto Traveler’s Factory

A long-time close companion for me is my Traveler’s Notebook, and so of course, what a thrill to visit the Kyoto Traveler’s Factory.

Traveler’s Notebook is a company that produces a system of notebooks housed in leather covers, with removable, replaceable inserts. The leather of the cover is a lovely material, in several different colour choices, and also feels thick and satisfying in the hand when you fill the cover up with two or three notebook inserts, as well as some of their accessories, like zipper pockets. Traveler’s Notebook also releases special editions, both of their covers and various inserts and accessories, which often go fast.

We feel extremely fortunate to be one of their very first Partner Shops, which is a network of stationery shops around the world that feature their notebooks and release their special editions and carry some items that are just for Partner Shops. You can also visit TN Partner Shops and collect a unique stamp made for each shop. We love ours.

And for the truly committed: you can also visit Japan-only Traveler’s Factory shops. There are three in Tokyo (the main one in Nakameguro, one in Narita Airport, and one in Tokyo Main Station), and one in Kyoto. I had been to the three in Tokyo before, but I couldn’t leave Kyoto without visiting the Traveler’s Factory there.

The Kyoto Traveler’s Factory has its own special edition cover and inserts, as well as a curated selection of Japanese and imported stationery goods and snacks and treasures. It has the same stamp station as the other Traveler’s Factories, except that it has special Kyoto TN stamps that you can use.

One of my absolute favourite things as a stationery shopkeeper is seeing the patina on a well-used, well-loved Traveler’s Notebook, and wondering about all the life and adventure that’s flowed through the covers. Show me yours! I love seeing them. It’s a highlight of our Traveler’s Notebook meet-ups at the shop, when we gather up all of the notebooks to stack them up high, and see everyone’s unique and customized journals, a reflection of who we all are as humans.

I was going to bring the Tokyo edition to Japan with me, but at the last minute, due mostly to panicked indecision and total chaos as we fled the house like the Wormwoods, I took the newest release, the love and trip red. We left the house, made it through airport security, sat through delays, boarded our plane, and finally I took a deep breath and wondered (of course) if I had made the right decision. I waffled about it on and off for the next several days in Japan: a brand new cover with no scratches or patina? A total untested newbie for a robust adventure ahead??

But actually I’ve discovered (or, rediscovered,) to my relief that it doesn’t really matter which one you bring, or which one you get. The one in hand is the one that counts, and the patina will come fast or slow or heavy or magically, and it’s something you earn by living and doing and being and going. How you use what you’ve got, what you write in it, what you keep in it. The life you live with the moments you have.