Japan high school girls have best scoop on m4/3 future

Henry Richardson wrote:

Henry Richardson wrote:

BostonC wrote:

Admire the workmanship of the backpacks, unlike the ones in the US.

They are called randoseru and are quite expensive. Generally $300-600 depending on exactly which one is chosen. They used to all be black and red, but these days they come in all colors and there are even designer brands that can cost even more. The kids use them usually for many years. They are ubiquitous in Japan.

Here is some info on randoseru in Japan:

https://japanobjects.com/features/randoseru

The first incarnation of the randoseru bag was a backpack for soldiers. During the Edo period (1603-1868), the Shogunate government was influenced by the western-style military system of the Netherlands which is where the inspiration for the bag came. The name randoseru comes from the old Dutch term for backpack: ransel or rantsel.

When I was a kid in elementary school in the 1960s in the U.S. we didn't have anything like this. Kids just carried books in their hands. We could leave most of our stuff in our school desks though so we weren't carrying so much home everyday except what was needed for homework. These days kids in the States often have regular, thin, nylon backpacks. Not nearly as good or nice as what they have here in Japan or what you guys have been describing and showing in Europe.

Thanks for this interesting randoseru link, Henry!

I could imagine there was a market for these randoseru here in Germany, if there was an importer. They look like a perfect mix of aesthetic design/proportions and high quality, something that always sells. Probably not for everybody, looking at the price tag, but sure something for people who buy from companies like Manufactum https://www.manufactum.de/

They started 20 or 30 years ago with the slogan 'They still exist, the good old things'.

Maybe check the sub-links at the top of the page, these two lines beginning with 'Neuheiten, Geschenke, Herren ...' and 'Körperpflege, Lebensmittel ...' etc. Their leather bags are under 'Koffer & Lederwaren'. Some very nice stuff under 'Küche & Haushalt'.

US kids: There were lots of US kids here in our villages (because of two nearby US Airbases), but I must admit I can't really remember how they carried their school books.

Liewenberger