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Muji is somewhat similar to Pilot in its focus on functional quality without unnecessary bling. Their gel pens belongs to my favourites – cheap, reliable and with a clean, functional aesthetic that I like much, and they come in many colours. Of some reason I had not tried their notepads or their writing paper before I encountered it in a local store. As basically all Muji products it is clean and discreet with good, double, spiral bindings. The price is also attractive – at least in my part of the world where it is hard to find good notepads for study/work notes that aren’t too expensive. It is a little more expensive than the basic pads that one finds here, but not much, and for those extra money one gets a real nice notepad. This pad is in A4 size, but they can also be had in A5. As a price estimation; their British web shop sells them for £2.50 (around $3.75) I didn’t found it at Muji US website, but I didn’t spend a lot of time looking for it.
The paper is smooth, off-white and discreetly lined (spacing around 7 mm). It is rather thin/lightweight, but doesn’t have a cheap feeling to it – it is thin, dense and strong and is excellent for fountain pen purposes. Of all the tested inks only one feathered: Noodler’s Polar Blue. A (for me) well known featherer as Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun didn’t feather at all. The bleedthrough was very minor – only very wet nibs and their doodles bled. The Diamine Sunshine that I use as an everyday highlighter didn’t feather or bleed through either, despite the rather wet BB nib, which is another reason why Muji notepad makes a good paper for everyday notetaking as one can use both sides of the sheet with a variety of pens without more than very minor/neglectable bleedthrough.
In feel it is close to the smoothness of the paper quality in Rhodia’s pads. The paper is not bright white – more of an off white – and the lines are discreet and not too widely spaced (at least if one has a non-bold handwriting. Those who write real small might like even narrower spacing, but I am fine with this for work purposes. The only bigger drawback is that the paper isn’t perforated. I prefer perforated, easy to rip off, paper in this kind of pads. In all: this is a very good, non-fancy, cheap notepad for everyday use. I will definitely buy it again.
lady dandelion 