Randsel, Japanese School Bag unseasonally booming in Tokyo

School kids in Japan will go to school empty-handed. Almost every kid habitually carries on his/her back what is called "Randsel" , originally Dutch, with textbooks, pencil-case, tissues, and what not nicely packed in. It's called school bag or backpack in English. It's made in various sizes to fit kids of any grade from 1 to 6.

Now, what about randsel? Well, according to a TV report from the streets of Tokyo, August 13, there is an unseasonal boom in the sale of this product in some major department stores in Tokyo. Marketers normally put this in the market right after the turn of year, but this year, for some reasons unknown to even professional marketers, demands are rising already in August. 

A retail store "Seiban" in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, wonders if the Feast of Lanterns in August, annual customary visits to family graves, has anything to do with the untimely phenomenon. It makes sense in that the feast tempts elders to come out to town with their sons and daughters, now parents to their own kids. Three generations will go visit family graves and stop by stores on their return back home. The most senior will normally cover expenses along the way, gladly paying for those randsels for their grandchildren. Their immediate parents will gladly accept the offer - why not, because a randsel can easily cost 50〜60 thousand yens. Seniors are better to do these days and wouldn't mind giving gifts to their grandchildren at whatever cost.

What is more, foreign tourists are suddenly showing interest in this kind of sack for their own kids back home. Seiban testifies that foreign customers accounted for more than a half of a month's sale a while back.  
Seiban has a line of displays of the latest models of randsel in various color combinations. Some are beautifully embroidered with figures of birds and flowers; others artfully constructed to meet every taste.