Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Ten affiliate links appear on this page: five Amazon US listings, one for each color, each linked twice. The brand's US store says counterfeits of this notebook have been distributed in the US and asks buyers to use its own store or authorized US resellers. When I read the five listings on 1 October 2026, no offer was sold by the brand's US company or by the maker, and no seller's name matched a shop on the maker's US list; two listings carried an offer from the seller Amazon Japan. The brand's store and the maker's list are linked first and earn this site nothing. Amazon's prices and stock are not reproduced on this page. How this site works.
Traveler's Notebook, Regular Size: Where It Is Made, and Where a US Buyer Can Get It
The two main parts of the regular-size TRAVELER'S notebook are made in two different countries. Its maker is Designphil, a Japanese stationery company, which sells it under the TRAVELER'S COMPANY brand. The maker's specification, on its Japanese page and on the brand's US store alike, marks the leather cover "MADE IN THAILAND" and the notebook inside it "MADE IN JAPAN". The notebook is the only part of the kit the maker marks as made in Japan; the cotton case and the spare band that come with it carry no origin mark.
The maker uses the same five item codes in Japan and in the US, one per color. What changes with where you buy is who the seller is, whose return terms apply, and whether the maker lists that seller. I can give only part of the price picture: the brand's US store listed every color at $60.00 on 1 October 2026, Amazon's prices are not reproduced on this site, and I did not go through any checkout, so the delivered totals are yours to compare. Everything here was read on 1 October 2026: the maker's Japanese and English pages, the brand's US store, and Amazon US, where I read the five kit listings under ZIP codes 10001 and 90012, plus two related listings, one search and one seller page.
Before the rest: I work for a Japanese planner maker, which competes with the makers named on this page; none of them is a customer or a supplier of mine, I have no business with any of them, and I do not use my employer or its products as a source or an example.
What the brand asks US buyers to do
The brand's US store prints the same note on each of its five product pages for this kit. It says the company has found cases of the notebook "being manufactured illegally with the TRAVELER'S COMPANY logo" and distributed in the US, and it asks buyers to purchase from its own site "or authorized resellers in the US". For doubts about "the authenticity of a reseller or product" it gives a support e-mail address in the same note. The store's FAQ, in an answer about price matching, adds that its products sold online by "unauthorized third-party sellers" might not be real, "or parallel import goods".
What I can and cannot add to that:
- The note names no marketplace and no seller.
- The store does not say in so many words that the maker's shop list is its list of authorized resellers. Its "Find Us" link leads to the US part of that list, and treating the two as the same is my inference.
- A seller's absence from the list is not proof that its goods are counterfeit. It does put the purchase outside the channel the brand asks buyers to use, which is also where the FAQ places parallel imports.
- Separately, the store's return policy says its after-sales services cover only purchases from the store itself. By its wording that leaves out the other listed shops as well as unlisted sellers.
- I have not checked whether any item on any listing linked from this page is genuine, and I have no way to.
Where a US buyer can get it
| Where | Is the seller on the maker's US shop list? | Returns | Price I can show |
|---|---|---|---|
| The brand's US store, TRAVELER'S COMPANY USA | It is the brand's own store, and on the list | The store's policy: unopened, within 30 days of purchase, for products bought from the store within the United States | $60.00, each color |
| Other US shops on the maker's list | Yes | Each shop's own terms, not read for this page; the brand's store says its after-sales services do not cover purchases made elsewhere | Each shop's own, not read for this page |
| Amazon US, the five listings below; on two of them one seller was a Japan-based business, Amazon Japan | No seller name I read matched one | The terms shown on the listing for the seller you choose | Not reproduced here |
| A purchase from Japan | Not applicable: the maker says it does not export to individuals | Whatever the shop or service offers; not tested | ¥6,160 with tax is the maker's suggested retail price in Japan |
The brand's US store. The maker's Japanese site links TRAVELER'S COMPANY USA in its shop menu as the "TRAVELER'S COMPANY USA ONLINE SHOP". On 1 October 2026 the store showed the black, camel, blue and olive as available and the brown as unavailable. The return policy adds that original shipping costs are not refunded, that the customer arranges return postage "except for defective items", and that "After-sales services such as returns are not available for products purchased through any channels other than our official online shop." On shipping: "All domestic orders over $75 (excluding tax) qualify for FREE STANDARD SHIPPING", so one kit on its own falls under that line and pays a cost "calculated at check-out", which I did not reach. Standard shipping is given as "5-7 days for processing + 5-7 business days for transit", and the FAQ says orders leave a warehouse in Long Beach, California. The store also ships to Canada, but its policy says items shipped to an address outside the United States cannot be returned.
Other US shops on the maker's list. The maker's North America shop list names physical stores in more than twenty states, among them Kinokuniya and Maido branches, and seven online shops: the brand's own store and The Goulet Pen Company, JetPens, Lovenotebooks.com, Pinky Elephant, Simple Paper and TOKYO PEN SHOP. Their prices, stock and return terms are not read for this page. With the brown unavailable at the brand's store, this list is where I would look next for it; that is a suggestion of where to look, not a report that any shop has it.
Amazon US. Amazon does not appear on the maker's list. The next section sets out who was selling on the five listings.
A purchase from Japan. The maker's Japanese product page ends with the line "Unfortunately, we don't export to individual customers out of Japan." What remains are the routes in the guide to buying from Japan: a shop or a marketplace that ships to you, a forwarding address, or a purchase-agent proxy. I tested none of them for this notebook, and that guide covers what each adds to the price. One figure to know if you compare: ¥6,160, tax included, has been the suggested retail price since 1 October 2025. The maker announced the rise from ¥5,720 in a notice dated 3 September 2025, in Japanese, so a ¥5,720 figure in an older post predates it.
Read as a choice, the table comes to this. If the brand's own return terms matter to you, only its store carries them. If what matters is that the maker lists the seller, the store and the other listed shops both qualify. Neither held for the Amazon offers I read.
On Amazon US: the five listings, and who was selling
| Color | Maker's item code | Amazon US listing with that code in its title (paid link) |
|---|---|---|
| Black | 13714006 | Black on Amazon US, ASIN B000ZYJ96W |
| Brown | 13715006 | Brown on Amazon US, ASIN B000ZYF22M |
| Camel | 15193006 | Camel on Amazon US, ASIN B01BVJES3S |
| Blue | 15239006 | Blue on Amazon US, ASIN B07BMQDMJY |
| Olive | 15342006 | Olive on Amazon US, ASIN B0C1J4VGJL |
On 1 October 2026 I opened the all-offers panel on each of the five listings, once under ZIP 10001 and once under ZIP 90012.
- No offer was sold by TRAVELER'S COMPANY USA or by Designphil, and no seller name matched a shop on the maker's US list.
- The black and the olive each had an offer from a seller named Amazon Japan. The seller page behind that name (seller ID A3GZEOQINOCL0Y) gives the business as Amazon Japan GK, at a Tokyo address. A Japan-based seller on a marketplace in your own country is the second route in the buying guide, and what a parcel from Japan can have added at the US border is in that guide's Part 3. I saw no offer from a seller named Amazon.com.
- Every other offer was from a third-party seller. On the black and the blue, the seller on the main "Sold by" line was a different one under each ZIP code, so the seller you are shown may not be one I read.
Before an Amazon order, the "Sold by" line and the brand's note at the top of this page are the two things to read. Where the seller ID behind that line is found is shown in the Hobonichi Original's file.
What is in the kit
The maker's Japanese product pages give the contents line by line, in Japanese and in English:
- Leather cover. Cowhide, H220 × W120 × D10 mm, marked "MADE IN THAILAND". The maker's page about the notebook says each cover "is made by hand in Chiang Mai".
- Notebook refill. Blank, 64 pages, saddle-stitched, H210 × W110 × D4 mm, marked "MADE IN JAPAN". The maker names the paper as MD Paper, the name Designphil's MD Notebook also carries; that notebook has its own file on this site. I have not compared the two papers' specifications.
- Cotton case, H240 × W140 mm, and a spare rubber band. Neither line carries an origin mark.
The refill in the kit is blank, not dated. For dated planners, the planner guide is the place to start.
The US store gives the cover as 9 × 5.7 in, the same figures it gives for the package. The millimeter figures above are the maker's. This page is built from those pages and not from handling the kit, so it has nothing on how the leather wears or how the paper takes ink.
Names that get mixed up
- "Midori Traveler's Notebook". The US store's FAQ says the notebook was launched in 2006 "as one of the series of the MIDORI brand" and that the brand name was changed "from 'MIDORI' to 'TRAVELER'S COMPANY' in 2015". A search on Amazon US for the old name, on 1 October 2026, still returned refill listings titled "Midori Traveler's Notebook". The five kit listings linked here do not use it.
- "Carded" listings. Two further Amazon listings carry the brown and black codes with the words "Limited Size, Card Included" or "Limited Size, Carded" in their titles. The maker's pages I read do not use those words, and I do not link to those listings.
- Passport size. This page does not cover the smaller Passport-size kit, or any refill.
The links in one place
- The brand's own US store, with the return terms quoted above: TRAVELER'S notebook at TRAVELER'S COMPANY USA. Not an affiliate link.
- The US shops the maker lists: the maker's North America shop list. Not an affiliate link.
- Amazon US, after reading what the brand asks US buyers to do. On 1 October 2026 no offer on these five listings was sold by the brand's US company or by the maker. Paid links: black, brown, camel, blue, olive.