Himekuri and Himekuri Free - A daily tear-off calendar memo

This "Stationery Review by April" is a series of blog posts by our friend April Wu known as @penguinscreative on Instagram where she reviews different stationery to help us the team of Cute Things from Japan who are all English learners and need help when explaining some detail of products.  This time, April reviewed Himekuri and Himekuri Free calendars.  She explains how you can enjoy Himekuri series.

Please note that she helped us with this review with her own Himekuri calendar from last year, so the designs are different from the one of this year.  New 2022 Himekuri series are available in our New Arrivals now.


                                    (New Himekuri 2022 - Memory)

What is Himekuri?

Himekuri is a fun and unique calendar in memo form that is designed for you to tear off as each day passes. Tear off calendars are not a unique idea, and I’m pretty sure many people enjoy the excitement of such calendars to see what fun design is revealed for the next day. However, Himekuri is unique in the way that it displays all seven days of the week at the same time. In a row, you can enjoy the illustration and images together as a cohesive theme, and each week look forward to revealing the pattern for the next week. You can expect unique designs each week for the entire year, no repeats!

To tear each piece off, simply lift the bottom edge of each Himekuri to gently peel upwards. What’s even better about these tearable pieces, is that they have a slight adhesive on the backing, so you can actually use it as a date sticker for your journal or planners. I personally like to reinforce them a bit more with glue or dot glue rollers. For people who are using an undated notebook for a journal, you can place them in place of where you want to write the dates. They will add a fun splash of color to your daily pages.


                         (I got sweets theme Himekuri last year)

Each year, Himkeuri comes out with different themes for users: “Cats”, “Sweets”, “Stationery Stores”, “Black and White Dates”, ...and more. For 2022, they added a new theme call “Memory” that depicts real photography images that represent daily life moments throughout the year. This variety of theme is what appeals to Himekuri users. As you place them on your desk, each week the designs decorate your table in different ways.





At the end of each week, I like tearing out the individual pieces and using them as stickers to decorate my planner (even when it’s already dated). This year, I really enjoy the “Sweets” theme because they actually collaborate with dessert shops and cafes around Tokyo to highlight iconic pastries and desserts as the illustration. Just seeing them on my desk makes my mouth water at times. Maybe I should get the “Cat” theme next year to avoid that temptation.



I also enjoy piecing the memo sheets for the week together to form the full image in my Hobonichi Techo. Each weeks’ illustrations are like works of art themselves, and you can use them to decorate and fill a journal page. 

What is Himekuri Free?

This year, Himekuri came out with a new edition of tearable memo sheets, and it comes in undated form! In a cute booklet form, Himekuri Free comes in packs of 60 sheets (20 sheets x 3 blocks of Himekuri memo pages). Just like the original Himekuri, these can be torn off using the bottom edge, but it is oriented on a landscape form (but it is the same exact size as the Himekuri). They are also undated, with a light design of a date template for you to fill in your own date. There are three designs in total: “Trip”, “Watercolor”, and “Cat”.


It reserves the element of surprise by hiding all 60 designs except for the three that are revealed. As you tear off each piece to use individually, you can expect a new pattern underneath. The Himekuri Free adds an element of flexibility for those who want to journal and document dates, but don’t necessarily want to be held to a fixed time stamp.



The lightly printed date guide can also be used to represent time. I utilized these sticky sheets to decorate my planner and highlight important times during my schedule. You can even ignore the date template and write whatever you want on the memo note too.

If you are using an undated planner or a simple notebook to journal about your day, Himekuri Free gives you the flexibility to divide up the space of a page. In my blank Hobonichi, I split the day in half and use the Himekuri Free to indicate the day of my journal entry!

The foldable booklet format also gives you the freedom to take it with you on the go. If you need to write or journal spontaneously, you can easily fit a Himekuri Free in a small pocket pouch without damaging the memo sheets inside. 

Enjoy the daily pleasant surprise of using a Himekuri, and hopefully it will add some colors to your planners for the next year!

- Written by April Wu
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Thank you very much April.  We are sure you enjoyed reading her post.  We have several different kinds of Himekuri (meaning one-day-a-page) calendar for 2022 now available in our New Arrivals.  We hope you will find your favorite for your coming new year!

Please check April's Instagram for more planner and journal ideas! (@penguinscreative).  She has so many fun ideas to make your planner time fun!

Thank you very much for reading.  Have a nice day!
Love, Ayako and Junko