A very Happy New Year to everyone in the Polyplastics Group.
Here is the first issue of P-Mates in 2014.

Do you use a personal day planner every year?
What kind of appointment book do you use?
An increasing number of people are using digital planners to keep track of their schedules. In Japan, new appointment books and planners for the next year deck the shelves of book and stationery stores and variety shops beginning as early as the fall season. In fact, they are so popular here that many magazines features articles such as “What kind of planner will you use next year?” “How do you use your planner?” I also take care in selecting an appointment book every year. Sometimes, if I find that the one I chose isn’t easy to use, I buy a new one midway during the year.

There are many types of planners—monthly planners, vertical planners. In recent years, one of the most popular types in Japan has a page for each day. In addition to monthly pages, there are daily pages for writing whatever you want. Fans of this type of planner fill the pages with whatever they like—progress made in their work, what they eat, thoughts on books they read, what happened during the day. The content of what people write in planners differs, but planners all have one thing in common, which is that they function as a “lifelog.” A year has only 365 days. Planners serve as a way to leave a visual record that satisfies our need to value each day of our life.

We meet with a lot of strenuous things in the course of each day. Nevertheless, I want to value each day and spend my days at a pace that is reasonable for me. I hope that P-Mates will be a favorite medium of information and enjoyment for all of you who are also giving your best to your work and living each day to the full.

It is my wish that all of your days in 2014 are filled with wonderful times that add beautiful color to your life.

Erina Endoh
P-Mates editorial team