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Takahashi 5-Year Diary 2027–2031, English Edition (B6): A Japanese Publisher's Five-Year Diary, Dated in English
Takahashi Shoten is a Japanese publisher of planners and diaries. Its B6 five-year diary for 2027 to 2031 is listed on Amazon US in two editions, English and Japanese, by the same seller. This file is for someone in the US who wants a Japanese maker's five-year diary and does not read Japanese, and it weighs one purchase: the English edition. Of the Japanese makers' five-year diaries, this file takes the one I found with an English edition on Amazon US; other Japanese makers' five-year diaries and English-language ones are not assessed, apart from a short note on Hobonichi's further down.
Before the rest: I work for a Japanese planner maker. It competes with Takahashi and also sells a five-year diary; I do not name it or draw on it here. Takahashi is not a customer or a supplier of mine, and I have no business with it. I have not handled either edition. My sources are the specification and photographs on Takahashi's Japanese online store, which lists the Japanese edition, and the two Amazon US listings with the photographs posted on them, read logged out under a New York ZIP code (10001) and a Los Angeles one (90012), on 22 October 2026. My own views are marked as such.
The short answer. The English listing's photographs of the July pages show the dates in English ("Jul 3"), each year's line marked with an English weekday ("2027 Sat"), and Independence Day printed on 4 July. On those pages, the part you write in every day asks for no Japanese. The Japanese edition looks the same from outside but prints the weekday as a kanji, with Japanese calendar entries beside it. Two things I could not confirm: none of the English listing's photographs shows the reference pages at the back, so I do not know whether those are in English, and the photographs cover July only. If the dated pages are what you are buying it for, the English edition is → Takahashi 5-Year Journal 2027–2031, B6, English Edition (a paid link; it appears once more at the end).
Same cover, two books
The cover in the English listing's photographs is the one on Takahashi's Japanese store page: cream, five arcs, the years 2027 to 2031 in iridescent foil, and FIVE YEARS DIARY. Several of those photographs appear on both listings, so they cannot show a difference between the editions even if there is one. One photograph on the English listing shows a paper band printed in Japanese with the number 19 in a blue circle, which is Takahashi's catalogue number for the Japanese edition (its own photograph of that edition shows the same band); that photograph may be of the Japanese edition. Either way, a photo of the cover will not tell you which edition a listing is for. These will:
- The listing title. The English edition is listed as a "5-Year Journal": "5-Year Journal 2027-2031, B6, English Edition, Yearly Comparison and Memo" (ASIN B0H4PBMHLD). The Japanese one: "5-Year Daily Journal 2027-2031, Japanese Edition, B6, Yearly Comparison" (ASIN B0045BQD88).
- The daily page in the English listing's photographs, headed "Jul 3". The Japanese listing's daily photograph is headed in Japanese, but its weekdays follow 2026, so it seems to be of an earlier edition.
- The part number. The English listing gives A19. Takahashi's catalogue number for the Japanese edition is No.19.
A day and a month, side by side
The English column is from the English listing's photographs, which are of July 2027 onward. The Japanese column is from Takahashi's own photographs of the Japanese edition, which are of August.
| English edition (photographs of July) | Japanese edition (Takahashi's photographs of August) | |
|---|---|---|
| Daily page: heading | "Jul 3", "Jul 4" | 8月8日, 8月9日 (month and day, with the kanji for "month" and "day") |
| Daily page: each year's line | the year and an English weekday: "2027 Sat", "2028 Mon" | the year and a kanji weekday in brackets: 2027 [日] (Sunday) |
| Daily page: other entries on the line | "Independence Day" on 4 July, in each year | the day's name in the six-day rokuyō cycle, and on some days one of the 24 traditional solar terms (立秋, "start of autumn", on 8 August) |
| Monthly page: year at the head of each column | "2027" | 2027 〔令和9年〕: the year, then the Japanese era year, Reiwa 9 |
| Monthly page: holidays | "Independence Day" on the 4th; in 2027, "Independence Day (observed)" on Monday the 5th | 山の日 ("Mountain Day", a Japanese holiday) on 11 August, in red |
On both editions each year's line also has two small symbols at its right end, a sun-and-cloud and a thermometer, and in the English photograph each year has three faint ruled lines under its label.
One more check the July photograph allows. In Japan, Marine Day falls on the third Monday of July, which in 2027 is the 19th. On the English edition's July monthly page, 19 July 2027 is printed in black with no label, as an ordinary Monday. So, for that month at least, the English edition does not carry Japan's holidays. Whether it carries US holidays in other months, I have not seen.
My own view: for a few lines a day under the right date, the English edition's dated pages are readable without Japanese, as far as July shows. That is a narrower claim than "the book is in English".
What Takahashi's own page tells you
Takahashi's Japanese store lists the Japanese edition, No.19; a search of that store for "English" on 22 October 2026 did not bring up the English one. Its specification is the fullest description of the book I found from the maker:
- B6, 182 × 128 mm, 432 pages. A size image showing 128 × 182 mm and one stating 432 pages also appear on the English listing, but both listings use the same images, so they do not confirm anything about the English edition separately.
- One date per page, a line for each of the five years, so the same day in every year sits together, from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2031.
- Monthly pages "横ケイ式" (horizontal lines): one month across a spread, a column for each of the five years, and a free memo space on the left. The English listing's July photographs show the same layout.
- Binding: a clear cover (装丁仕様 クリアカバー), a transparent jacket. This is the Japanese edition's specification; the image on the English listing that shows a clear cover is again one both listings share.
- Reference pages at the back: an age chart, an anniversary list, a wish list, a gift memo and lined memo pages.
In Takahashi's photographs of the Japanese edition, the reference pages mix languages. The anniversary list has English month names; the wish list has an English heading and a column labelled in Japanese (やりたいこと, "things I want to do"); the age chart gives Japanese era years (Taisho, Showa, Heisei, Reiwa) beside Western years, with the zodiac year in kanji. Whether the English edition's versions differ, its photographs do not show.
If you were weighing the Hobonichi
On 27 September 2026, Hobonichi's English type guide listed its 5-Year Techo only as a Japanese book, and its English product page said public holidays are not marked on the daily pages; this site's file on it has the details and the dates. Against that, the English listing's photographs show Takahashi's English edition with English weekdays and Independence Day in July. The books also differ in size and shape, which the Hobonichi file lists.
What the photographs leave open
- Where it is made. Takahashi's store page for the Japanese edition does not say, and I had not confirmed it as of 22 October 2026. "Japanese" in this file means a Japanese publisher.
- The reference pages. If you need the age chart and the lists in English, I could not confirm that they are.
- The rest of the calendar. July is the only month photographed. If you are outside the US and want your own holidays marked, nothing I saw suggests they are.
- The year it starts. The first dated line is 1 January 2027 and the last is 31 December 2031; if you want to begin in another month, this is not the book.
Who was selling it, and the link
On Amazon US, 22 October 2026, the English edition (ASIN B0H4PBMHLD) was sold by an account named Takahashi Diary Official (seller ID A2DSSPG1J2HUW8), whose brand line reads "Visit the 手帳は高橋 Store" (roughly, "for planners, Takahashi"); the listing names TAKAHASHI SHOTEN CO.,LTD. as the manufacturer. I found no link to this account on the pages of Takahashi's Japanese store and website that I read on 22 October 2026, so I describe it by its name. Under both ZIP codes the all-offers panel listed that account alone. The Japanese edition, ASIN B0045BQD88, was sold by the same account. Before buying, read the "Sold by" line, and look for "English Edition" in the title.
Left out of this file: Takahashi's English 3-Year Journal (ASIN B0H4PHZ6NS), which has its own file, its other diaries and planners, and five-year diaries from other makers. Leaving them out is not a verdict on them.
The English edition:
→ Takahashi 5-Year Journal 2027–2031, B6, English Edition