Nolty has announced their line-up for 2021 Nolty planners that start in January. (They also sell various products that have an April start to coincide with Japan’s school year, but they don’t announce those until later.)

I’m going to start with the bad news. They are not going to be producing the Nolty Daily Book for 2021. It was introduced as a limited edition product celebrating Nolty’s 70th anniversary, and they decided not to add it to the ongoing lineup. I am seriously bummed out, as this diary was exactly what I’d been wanting for years: a fountain pen friendly page per day diary with squared pages, in a 3.5 x 5.5″ format. It is the ideal hybrid of the (poor quality, lined) Moleskine daily diary and the (perfect except for its 4 1/8 x 5 7/8″ size) Hobonichi techo. It seemed like the 2020 Daily Book sold out very quickly after Nolty announced it, so I assumed it would be a popular enough product to continue, but I guess I was wrong. I can only hope that they will get enough feedback from disappointed customers to change their mind.

As for the good news, they are continuing with their other big 70th anniversary product: the Nolty Memo Notebook, which is filled with squared pages with a 3.5mm grid. (The only aspect of it that makes it a dated diary is a one page yearly calendar at the beginning.) They came out with 10 colors for 2020, and it seems to have been a wildly successful product. For 2021 Nolty is producing it in 4 new colors, though the product numbers correspond to those used on 4 of last year’s colors. It seems like the strategy is to have a different color palette each year, which will increase the collectible appeal. I didn’t buy the memo notebook in 2020, but I’m planning to try at least one or two colors in 2021. The color choices are attractive: Charcoal, Mulberry (taupe), Snow (off-white) and Sakura (dusty pink). Maybe I’ll use a few of these as a daily diary replacement.

The Efficiency Notebook, of course, continues to be produced in several versions. It seems that they are offering it in black and red every year, but in 2020, the third color available was blue, which for 2021 Nolty has replaced with green under the corresponding product number. I might have to try one, it looks like a nice dark shade of green.

The “Gold” Efficiency Notebook with the black leather cover is still available and I think I will buy one again this year. I struggle with the price, which at Â¥5500 is over $50 USD, but I am always a sucker for a beautiful leather notebook.

SO… I think I’ll be ordering at least 5 2021 Nolty diaries. For me, the Efficiency Notebook in black leather and green plastic, as well as the Memo Notebook in Charcoal and Sakura. I’ll also be ordering a red Efficiency Notebook for a friend who has also become a Nolty convert after seeing mine!

You can download my spreadsheet of Nolty model numbers by year. It is by no means a full list of all 2021 Nolty products, but it captures the most popular Efficiency Notebook styles in both the 95 x 144mm and 85 x 130mm sizes. JMAM now seems to take orders by fax from the US and other areas outside Japan, but unfortunately not Europe. Scroll down to the bottom of this page for instructions and a downloadable order form in English. (For credit card security, they ask you to fax the order form, but I also saw on Instagram that you can email them at e-shop@jmam.co.jp, at least with inquiries.) Shipping will be about $27 to the US for up to 2 notebooks, or more for larger orders, but depending on what you are buying, it may be worth it compared to the markup when you order via Kinokuniya. (Kinokuniya’s US store pick-up price for the 2020 Efficiency Notebook Gold was $79 and I would expect it to be similar for 2021.) Rakuten Global Market was another source I ordered from in the past, but it is no longer available. I think I will try ordering from JMAM directly this year, if I can figure out how to send a fax to Japan!