MUJI equivalent notebooks in the US

March 23, 2007 4:03 PM

Stationery question: Where in America can I buy a spiral bound notebook with a dot-grid (similar to those sold in Muji)?

Back in the UK I used to be addicted to these notebooks from Muji, in particular because of the grid, which consisted of a dot at each intersection but no lines. Since moving to the US I've been looking for something similar, but only found notebooks with a lined grid.

The Muji store in NY does not appear to stock them. I can get people to send them over, or I can buy them from the online store, but would prefer to find a similar notebook here to avoid the fuss and expense.

posted by Artw to writing & language (14 comments total)

As a secondary question: If I buy these online would there be any advantage to buying them from the Japanese store (assuming that, as a non-Japanese speaker, I can find some way to navigate the site)?
posted by Artw at 4:05 PM on March 23, 2007

The Museum of Modern Art carries Muji products in their stores in Manhattan, as well as online. It doesn't appear that they carry the exact notebook you are looking for -- but the zip pouch notebooks look similar. I suggest calling the main MoMA Store (212-767-1050), as well as the Soho outpost (646-613-136) and asking if they carry the notebooks -- or, where they suggest you look.
posted by ericb at 4:23 PM on March 23, 2007

Oops -- full telephone number for MoMA, Soho -- [phone]
posted by ericb at 4:27 PM on March 23, 2007

Hmm, you mentioned New York, but your profile says you're in Seattle. You should check the Kinokuniya bookstore in Uwajimaya Village in the International District -- I don't know if they carry Muji, but they have a ton of cool Japanese notebooks and such, and I think they may have ones with a dot grid.
posted by litlnemo at 6:02 PM on March 23, 2007

Behance dot grid spiral bound notebook, $14.
posted by caek at 8:59 PM on March 23, 2007 [4 favorites]

Look at stationary stores in your local Japantown.
posted by radioamy at 12:27 PM on March 24, 2007

Look at stationary stores in your local Japantown

Just make sure they're still in the same place when you go to visit them. ;)
posted by ericb at 2:39 PM on March 24, 2007

here's a DIY solution...

Save the file below as "grid.ps". You can open it with Preview on the mac, Illustrator or use ps2pdf on Linux. Then print as many pages as you want. (btw, looks great on a laser printer. probably not so great on an inkjet.)

%!PS
% the above line must be the first line
% Title: dot grid paper
% x y radius arc1 arc2
/mydot { gsave 0 0 moveto 0.5 0 lineto stroke grestore } def

0.5 setlinewidth
0 0 moveto

% 0:black 1:white
% (no grey with a b/w laser, only ugly checker patterns...)
% 0.8 setgray

100 {
100 {
9 0 translate %% move across
mydot
} repeat
-900 9 translate %% move up
} repeat

showpage
posted by kamelhoecker at 5:50 PM on March 24, 2007 [3 favorites]

The dot notebook I have is from a Japanese stationary store (Mai Do, in Palo Alto). The legend on the back reads "Distributed and produced by Kyokuto stationary co.,ltd. made in China"
posted by dws at 11:25 PM on March 24, 2007

kamelhoecker, that is an awesomely geeky solution. Bravo!
posted by litlnemo at 2:28 AM on March 26, 2007

I'm marking it as Best Answer. Not so much because i'll ever do it as for the awesome geekiness.

Actually if you can cime up with a simple solution for cutting the sheets down to pocketbook size and binding them I may even give it a shot.
posted by Artw at 12:18 PM on March 27, 2007

BTW, thanks all for the help. I'll defiantely be checking Uwajimaya and may give MoMa a call, though I suspect what they have online is their entire range. The Behance notebook would be exactly what i'm looking for if it were a bit smaller.

Oh, and I'm hearing that a REAL Muji store may be opening in NY soon, so maybe they will have somr kind of online presence.
posted by Artw at 12:21 PM on March 27, 2007

Kinokuniya had the goods - made by Kyokuto I believe.
posted by Artw at 1:39 PM on April 18, 2007

Oh, excellent. I might have to go buy one myself. I love Kinokuniya; there's so much great stuff there (and in Uwajimaya).
posted by litlnemo at 5:25 AM on May 1, 2007