Pen Worthy or Pass? 📄 Kokuyo Campus A5 Business Notebook

One of the struggles I've faced with using fountain pens as my main writing instrument is finding the right paper to use. To be frank, a lot of the fountain pen-friendly papers I've come across were relatively pricey, especially since I was so used to affordable papers. Finding cheaper options for everyday use and not having to "save" paper because it's expensive has become one of the things I love to do, and share with other fountain pen enthusiasts. That's not to say that I don't use expensive paper. In fact, my daily journal is quite a pricey Tomoe River notebook. But I do write a lot, be it note-taking for topics I like to study, writing down random ideas and notes, and it adds up to a lot of money spent on notebooks and papers.

Today we're looking at a well-loved, widely used, and relatively affordable notebook: the Kokuyo Campus notebook. The world of Kokuyo notebooks is vast and there are many lines of products to explore. For the sake of keeping this post readable within half an hour, we won't get into that just yet. But if you've never heard of Kokuyo Campus notebooks before, it's basically the go-to notebooks for Japanese students and professionals alike. It was launched in 1975 with a revolutionary "perfect binding" method, which is a significant departure from the traditional thread binding, making the notebooks more durable and user-friendly. It was made to be compatible with multiple writing instruments, including fountain pens, which is what we're testing out today.

The Basics

This is the Kokuyo Campus A5 Business Notebook. Now, there are different cover colors to of the Campus notebooks, depending on a lot of things, including the paper ruling. The version I have is the 5mm grid version, which you can identify by the grid on the cover. Here are the main features of this notebook:

• 40 sheets/80 pages

• 70 gsm, acid-free, archival quality, white paper

• Cardstock soft cover

• Lay-flat, glue binding

I bought this notebook at Loft for 88 THB (approximately 2.7 USD), though prices may vary depending on where you buy. This breaks the price down to If you're in Bangkok, Kokuyo Campus notebooks are pretty easy to find. I believe you can find them at B2S, Kinokuniya, Loft, Asia Stationery, Minna by Asia Stationery, and such. I believe they've recently started selling in Somjai as well.

Fountain Pen Tests

The purpose of this review is mainly to see how fountain pen-friendly the notebook is. So while I'm not going to deep-dive into each feature that the notebook offers, I'll be testing the paper with various fountain pens with different applications.

Test 1: Fine and Medium Nibs

My go-to nib sizes on fountain pens are fine and extra fine, but I also occasionally use medium nib pens, so those are what I'm using in this test. I've also thrown in a "wet combo" in there to see if a somewhat "wet" pen and ink combo would feather or not.

Pen & Ink Combos used

• Platinum Century 3776 <F> + Aurora - Black

• Lamy Safari <M> + Lamy - Black

• TWSBI ECO <EF> + De Atramentis - Jane Austen

Writing Experience

It was a very smooth writing experience. The paper appears to be coated and has a silky-smooth finish. I can see why this is well-loved by students and professionals. The pen just glided on the paper so well!

That being said, because of the way it is coated, it is a bit sensitive to hand oils. If you write with one hand laid on the paper, chances are, the spots where your fingers were will repel the ink a bit if you're using a standard water/dye-based ink (not likely to be a problem if you use permanent/pigment-based inks). I personally write with a piece of paper below my non-dominant hand because I tend to lay my hand on top of the paper as I write, and I've experienced this with various papers.

Performance

 🪶 Feathering: No Feathering

🩸 Bleed-through: No bleed-through

👻 Ghosting: Slight ghosting, but not distracting

Test 2: Stub Nib

I regularly use stub nib pens to write big headers, whether I'm journaling or taking notes for certain things. So I thought it would be a good idea to test them here, too.

Pen & Ink Combo Used

Kaweco Perkeo 1.9 mm stub nib + Wearingeul - The Picture of Dorian Gray

Writing Experience

Surprisingly, there was a bit of feathering with the stub nib test. Note that the ink I used is a relatively dry-flowing ink, so it caught me a bit off guard. Nevertheless, the feathering was minimal and hardly noticeable unless you look at it closely, so I'm not mad at it.

 🪶 Feathering: Slight feathering. Only visible when looked at very closely.

🩸 Bleed-through: No bleed-through

👻 Ghosting: Moderate ghosting, might bother some people

Test 3: Ink Swatching

While the Kokuyo Campus notebook is typically used for note-taking and such, some people might want to use it to test-swatch their inks. I was also quite curious as to how it would perform.

For ink enthusiasts, I think the most important thing about the paper we use for swatching inks is its ability to showcase the ink properties, which is especially important when it comes to shading and sheening inks. While this particular section might not be so important to the average daily writer, it's absolutely essential to those of us who go a bit bonkers over pretty inks.

Pen & Ink Combo Used

• Kakimori Brass Nib Pen

• Shading ink: Troublemaker - Abalone

• Sheening ink: Vinta - Blue Blood (Dugong Bughaw 1521)

Writing Experience

I was a bit disappointed with how this paper performed with ink swatches. Considering that it is a coated paper, I did have an expectation that it would be able to handle inks quite well.

I chose 2 particular inks to do this test for specific reasons:

• Abalone by Troublemaker for shading ink: this ink is one of the inks that has the most prominent shading in my collection. If this ink appears completely flat when swatched on paper, then I don't think that other inks will have much chance.

• Blue Blood (Dugong Bughaw 1521) by Vinta for sheening ink: I don't have a lot of sheening inks in my collection (yet), but of the ones I do have, this ink has the most intense sheen. So, like the logic behind Abalone, if this ink doesn't show any sheen when swatched, then there's no chance that other inks with subtler sheen will even show the beautiful sheen regardless of light.

Performance

🌀 Ink Shading: The shading was excellent. I can see the beautiful shading in the ink.

💎 Ink Sheening: There was almost no sheen visible, only where the ink pools heavily can I see the sheen, and barely at that. This was quite surprising given how well the shading ink performed. And given how extreme the sheen on this ink is, I think other inks won't stand a chance.

 🪶 Feathering: No feathering

🩸 Bleed-through: Bleed-through on spots where the ink pooled

👻 Ghosting: Extreme ghosting on more saturated inks, reverse side might not be usable

Test 4: Flex Nib

Flex nib pens can lay down a heavy, wet line of ink, especially during downstrokes. Even inks that seem only moderately wet in regular pens can gush with a flex nib. If the paper is too absorbent, the ink tends to spread uncontrollably and soak through.

Pen & Ink Combo Used

F.P.R. Himalaya V2 <Ultra Flex> + Diamine - Woodland Green

Writing Experience

Please excuse both my penmanship and the missing stroke on the letter t in the word "test" lol. This paper absolutely cannot handle flex nib pens, at least not in my test. The feathering was very noticeable, and the bleed-through was quite extreme. Note that the ink I used has a relatively wet flow, so that might have been one of the reasons the result looks so bad. Nevertheless, this test was an absolute fail.

Performance

🪶 Feathering: Heavy feathering, significantly affects legibility

🩸 Bleed-through: Constant bleed-through, reverse side unusable

👻 Ghosting: Extreme ghosting, reverse side unusable

Scorecard

Here are the scores I have for the Kokuyo Campus Business Notebook. As different people have different needs for their notebooks, I would recommend looking at the criteria that matter to you if you’re considering getting this notebook.

🪶 Feathering: 4/5

Minimal feathering only under extreme conditions (e.g. flex nib)

🩸 Bleed-through: 4/5

Almost none; only heavy swabs or ink pooling may bleed (and flex nibs, too)

👻 Ghosting: 4/5

Slight ghosting, but not distracting

🌀 Ink Shading: 4/5

Good shading with shading-prone inks or nibs

💎 Ink Sheening: 2/5

Barely any sheen; only where the ink pools

💰 Price & Value: 5/5

Excellent value; affordable with premium quality

If you want to learn more about my rating system, you can find my scorecard rating guide here.

Is it Pen-worthy?

Overall score:

23/30: ✅ Truly Pen-Worthy

(You can find my "pen-worthiness" scale here.)

The Kokuyo Campus Business Notebook is a great option if you're looking for a fountain pen-friendly notebook with a really good price, but it is NOT for you if you plan to swatch inks or use flex nib pens.

The paper in this notebook is smooth with low tooth, and it's wonderful for note-taking. It's a solid choice for daily use. While it is not the cheapest of notebooks out there, I find that it is still at quite a good price point amongst the well-known fountain pen-friendly notebooks in the market. It's also pretty easily accessible, which is a big bonus. There's a whole range of sizes and rulings to choose from, not to mention that Kokuyo Campus frequently collaborates with different artists and franchises to make special editions that are pretty cute.

Personally, I love using this notebook for taking notes when I'm studying something. It's one of the notebooks that I don't feel super precious about, and I don't mind it getting a bit battered from heavy use. It's not a "pretty" or "aesthetic" notebook by any means, but it's just functional and straightforward.

Disclaimer

Please note that these reviews are based on my own experience of using the paper/notebook. Unless stated otherwise, these notebooks were bought by my own money, and I’m in no way affiliated with or sponsored by the brand of the product I’m reviewing.

If you have any feedback or recommendations, please feel free to leave them in the comments!