Life was founded in Tokyo in 1949 - its products are still made in small workshops scattered across the city. The paper found in Life notebooks and pads is well known by writers as one of the world's finest for writing by hand. Life's motto: "to produce stationery, to create culture".  All products 100% made in Japan.

You'll also see Tsubame products below (Life is their distributor in Japan.. and so we're keeping them tied together here).  Tsubame was founded in 1947, and, like their friends at Life, they make a good design and stick to it (most of the cover designs haven't changed in decades.. and they have kept their very high-quality 'fool's paper' as well as thread binding).  100% made in Japan.

approximate conversion from A/B sizes to inches:

• A7 (3"x4"); A6 (4"x6"); A5 (6"x8"); A4 (8"x12")
• B7 (3.5"x5"); B6 (5"x7"); B5 (7"x10")