If you’ve been to Japan—or watched any Japanese film or television show that features schoolchildren—you’ve seen a randoseru backpack. There’s no way you haven’t. The rounded-yet-blocky leather shape is on the back of pretty much every child in Japan. It’s so common that there are anime shows about “randoseru girls.” There are even randoserus for dogs.
A longstanding Randoseru Association monitors bag stats like popularity of sizes, material, and color (boys like the black, but navy is catching up, while girls have been opting for lavender over pink lately). The bags are so ubiquitous the paper of record itself, The New York Times, recently published a profile of them. According to their deep-pocketed research, the randoseru became Japan’s de facto school backpack way back in 1885 when “a school that educates Japan’s imperial family, designated as its official school bag.” Now, nearly 150 years later, the bag is worn by nearly every elementary school child in the country.
Helping the bag continue its reign is leather goods manufacturer Tsuchiya Kaban, which has been making randoseru in Japan since it was founded by Kunio Tsuchiya over 60 years ago. It’s a laborious process that involves 50 craftspeople using 150 parts to hand make each bag.