Recreating the Kanaya Hotel TN for my Japan Trip
I recently have begun planning our first ever trip to Japan, and I decided it would be fun to have a journal dedicated to it. A journal that I could take with me and photograph at all of the spots we visit. Something that would look great in both the high tech futuristic looking cities, the retro showa era kissatens, and the slow paced countrysides.
I first got the idea for a red TN cover from RachelleinTheory, who mentioned spending a "pretty penny" on a red Traveler's Notebook. I didn't exactly mean to spend a pretty penny, but I couldn't get the idea of a red TN out of my head. What better for a trip to Japan than a Traveler's Company notebook? After much research, I discovered that the cover for the Love and Trip line is the only red TN cover that has been produced to date, and it's debut (though recent -April 2025) has long since passed. All the shops are out of stock.
Love and Trip
I could get a knock off, but it's not the same... ( T - T") Apparently all of the TN stockists were hoping they would restock the line, but after emailing a ton of them, I came to the conclusion that this is unlikely to happen, and waiting to buy one would just mean the resell price could continue to go up...
So I found the cheapest one I could on Ebay and went for it.
While trying to decide what to get, I also came across a lovely collab TN made with the Kanaya Hotel, to commemorate the 150th anniversary for the oldest classic resort hotel in Japan. I already own a dark brown TN cover, so I didn't really want to buy this set. But the extra accessories that came with the cover for this collab seemed absolutely perfect for my trip.
Kanaya Hotel x Traveler's Notebook
I could have been a reasonable person and just spent another ~pretty penny~ on the accessories for the Kanaya collab (forgoing the cover), but instead, I decided to do something that would cost way more and be a lot more work. (e - e ")... But also be way cooler.
I researched the designs for the collab's notebook and stickers and found exact (or close to exact) matches for the actual vintage pieces TN based their designs from.