＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
Kamigata rakugo storyteller Tsukitei Happo told a small story about an intimate family conversation about the purchase of a school bag for his grandson (Tsukitei Hachimitsu’s son).
My son Hachimitsu wanted me to buy him an expensive school bag at a department store. I told him, “Why don’t you buy a cheap school bag at Nitori instead of an expensive one at a department store like Takashimaya? But this was rude to Nitori and also to Takashimaya.
１．School bag sales season gets faster every year
I had thought that the school bag sales (recently called “run-activities”) were said to peak during the summer vacation until recently, but I was very surprised to hear reports that this year(2018)’s sales peaked during the Golden Week holidays.
It is getting earlier and earlier. Next year(2019), it may be brought forward even further, peaking at “New Year’s Day. However, since the consumption tax will be raised to 10% in October this year(2018), has it been moved up even more?
Come to think of it, bargain sales at department stores (called “winter clearance sales” or “summer bargains”) are also being moved up and bargains are starting even though the season has not yet ended.
Many of you may have bought early and felt like you lost money.
２．Overheated “grandchild consumption
I don’t have grandchildren, so I can’t really feel it, but as the lyrics of the song “Grandchildren” by Itsuro Oizumi say, “Why are they so cute? They are a treasure called grandchildren.
Nowadays, “grandchild consumption” is probably at its peak, with baby boomers buying school bags and clothes for their grandchildren and dining with them.
Grandchildren’s consumption, also known as “three-generation consumption,” amounted to about 3.8 trillion yen according to a study by Mitsubishi Research Institute (August 2015), which is about twice as large as the 2 trillion yen (in 2014) of domestic consumption by inbound (foreign visitors to Japan).
For sellers, competition may be heated because of the large “senior market”. Old people like me feel rushed and restless.
I don’t know the latest data yet, but I believe that both “three-generation consumption” and “inbound consumption” are increasing steadily.
３．The Fall of the Hina Doll and May Doll Sales Floor
In contrast to the expansion of the school bag section is the shrinkage of the hina doll and may doll sections. In the 1970s, when we baby boomers had our first children, every department store had a large space for hina dolls and May dolls, and hina dolls were decorated with gorgeous five-tiered or seven-tiered ornaments. For May dolls, “three-tiered dolls” and magnificent “seven-tiered dolls” were displayed.
However, due to the housing situation now that there are fewer spacious rooms as in the past, compact “shinno kazari” and “kabuto kazari” decorations seem to have become the mainstream. As a result, department store sales floors are shrinking rapidly.
The spread of online shopping sites such as Amazon and Rakuten Market may also be a factor.
４．New Uses for School Bags Rise in Popularity
（１）History of School Bags
Randoseru (school bags) originally came about at the end of the Edo period (1603-1867), when the shogunate introduced a “Western-style military system” by adopting Dutch military cloth rucksacks. The Dutch word “ransel” became accented and was called “randoseru.
Eventually, the “Gakushuin,” an educational institution for children of the imperial and noble families, adopted the randoseru in 1885 as a backpack for school children to carry school supplies and other items.
School bags are functional, sturdy, durable, and highly functional for carrying things. In addition, school bags allow for the free use of both hands and provide a cushion to protect the head in the event of a fall.
The use of these products gradually spread mainly in urban areas, and spread nationwide with the advent of the postwar era of rapid economic growth and the schooling of the baby boom generation. This was spurred on by the advent of synthetic leather, which is lightweight, inexpensive, and waterproof.
Thus, randoseru (school bags) have now become an indispensable item for elementary school students to go to school.
（２）New ways to use school bags
Thus, randoseru (school bags) became popular in Japan for elementary school students to go to school, but their popularity has skyrocketed, mainly among foreigners, since celebrities around the world started paying attention to Japanese randoseru as “Cool Japan” and started using them in a stylish way.
In 2014, American actress Zooey Deschanel made headlines for using randoseru in her personal life.
Also in 2014, sales of school bags began at the “Man” and “Wa” duty-free stores at Kansai International Airport. The sales are so strong that about 100 bags per store are sold per month, and foreign tourists, mainly Chinese but also Taiwanese, Hong Kong, Thai, and other Asian countries, are buying them. Some foreign tourists buy them as souvenirs for their children, but there are also many foreigners who buy them for their own use.
According to Seiban (headquartered in Tatsuno City, Hyogo Prefecture), which opened its first directly managed store in Omotesando, Tokyo, in May 2014, “at times up to 20% of sales are from foreigners. The store has been featured in tourist guides for foreigners, and some foreign tourists go out of their way to take a cab to the store.
One of the reasons for their popularity is that Hollywood celebrities love them and they are fashionable, but they are also familiar from Japanese anime and TV dramas such as “Doraemon” and “Detective Conan,” and the practical aspect of Japanese school bags is that their materials are sturdy, unbreakable, and functional.
（３）School bag covers are very popular
Recently, it has become fashionable for elementary school students to attach unique and fashionable covers (randoseru covers) to their school bags, and a variety of “randoseru covers” are sold on Amazon, Rakuten, and other online shopping sites.
