ノート
ノート
nooto
= notebook; exercise book; also: laptop computer (short for ノートパソコン)
ノート (nooto) comes from English ‘note’ and means notebook or exercise book — the kind students use in class. But in modern Japanese, ノート has taken on a second life: ノートパソコン (nooto pasokon — notebook personal computer) is the standard Japanese term for a laptop, almost always shortened to just ノート in casual speech. Context tells you which meaning applies.
Nooto (ノート) means: 1) Notebook/exercise book: a bound blank or lined book for writing. ノートに書く (nooto ni kaku — to write in a notebook), ノートを取る (nooto wo toru — to take notes). 2) Laptop computer: short for ノートパソコン (nooto pasokon). ノートを買い替えた (nooto wo kaigaeta — I replaced my laptop). Related: ルーズリーフ (ruuzu riifu — loose-leaf binder paper), バインダー (baindaa — binder), 方眼ノート (hougan nooto — graph-paper notebook).
ノート (notebook) is distinct from 手帳 (techou — a personal organizer/diary, typically pocket-sized with a calendar). University students use ノート for class notes, while ルーズリーフ (ruuzu riifu — loose-leaf sheets) are popular for subjects where you want to reorganize pages. When someone says 「ノート持ってきた？」(nooto motte kita? — Did you bring your notebook?), they mean a physical notebook. 「ノート壊れた」(nooto kowareta — my laptop broke) means the computer.
ノート is written in katakana from English ‘note.’ The word ‘note’ in English can mean a single piece of paper, a short written record, or a musical note — Japanese selected the ‘notebook’ meaning and extended it to laptops. ノートパソコン (nooto pasokon) is a compound of nooto + pasokon (personal computer, itself a compound loanword from ‘personal computer’).
Everyday use
授業中にノートを取るのが苦手で、後でまとめて清書するタイプだ。
Jugyou-chuu ni nooto wo toru no ga nigate de, ato de matomete seisho suru taipu da.
I’m not good at taking notes during class — I’m the type that writes a clean copy later all at once.
Casual / Social Media
大学入ってノートどのくらい使うか聞いたら先輩に「ルーズリーフにしたほうがいいよ」って言われた
Daigaku haitte nooto dono kurai tsukau ka kiitara senpai ni ‘ruuzu riifu ni shita hou ga ii yo’ tte iwareta
When I started uni and asked how much notebook I’d need, my senior told me ‘you’re better off with loose-leaf’
Formal / Cultural context
「ノート」はportable computerの携帯性を帳面（notebook）の携帯性になぞらえた命名であり、日本語では「ノートパソコン」として定着し（1980年代末〜1990年代初）、現在は口語的には「ノート」と略される。英語のlaptop/notebook computerに相当するが、日本語では「ラップトップ」は一般的でなく「ノートパソコン（ノート）」が標準語彙として機能している。
‘Nooto’ wa portable computer no keitaisei wo choumen (notebook) no keitaisei ni nazoraeta meimei de ari, Nihongo de wa ‘nooto pasokon’ toshite teichaku shi (1980-nendai matsu 1990-nendai hatsu), genzai wa kougo-teki ni wa ‘nooto’ to ryakusareru. Eigo no laptop notebook computer ni soutou suru ga, Nihongo de wa ‘rapputopu’ wa ippanteki de naku ‘nooto pasokon (nooto)’ ga hyoujun goi toshite kinou shite iru.
‘Nooto’ is a naming that likens the portability of a portable computer to the portability of a notebook, becoming established in Japanese as ‘nooto pasokon’ (late 1980s to early 1990s) and now abbreviated to ‘nooto’ in casual speech. While equivalent to English ‘laptop/notebook computer,’ in Japanese ‘rapputopu’ (laptop) is not common and ‘nooto pasokon (nooto)’ functions as the standard vocabulary.
Notebook culture in Japan is highly developed, with Japanese stationery (文房具, bunbougu) representing a distinct area of consumer enthusiasm. Brands like Kokuyo, Maruman, and Campusnote (キャンパスノート) are household names with devoted followings. Japanese notebook design emphasizes precise ruling, high-quality paper for fine-tip pens, and layout options including 方眼 (hougan — graph/grid), 横罫 (yokokei — lined), and 無地 (muji — blank). The 測量野帳 (sokuryou yachou — surveyor’s field book by Kokuyo) has a cult following among notebook enthusiasts worldwide.
The shift from ノート to デジタルノート (dejitaru nooto — digital note-taking) has been slower in Japan’s educational system than in many Western countries. Handwritten notes remain the norm in Japanese classrooms, and 板書 (bansho — copying what the teacher writes on the board into your notebook) is a core academic skill explicitly taught from elementary school. University students in Japan are far more likely to take handwritten notes than use laptops during lectures, reflecting both cultural norms and the physical infrastructure of traditional classrooms.
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