81–90 of 122 posts
> After a few rounds of bastardization, ransel became “randoseru” in Japanese. I thought there was actually a formal transliteration system the Japanese use for foreign words? Like with cutlet becoming katsu retsu. Not quite “bastardization”.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I enjoyed the article but like much of online content about Japan it comes off like obsessive fan service. Can you imagine carrying 1-2kg empty backpack with you every day? Just because something took long to make doesn't mean it's superior in production or quality or even perception. It's pretty, fashionable and the tradition is wholesome but that's where it ends. I got a free backpack with my new Thinkpad laptop re…
> Can you imagine carrying 1-2kg empty backpack with you every day? That's so light, of course I can. I'm legitimately baffled by the implication that this is heavy for a backpack .
We needed very durable backpacks when I was in high school because our books were so heavy, and my school had no lockers (so you were carrying 4-5 textbooks at all times). But as students have shifted to online learning platforms, wouldn't they have less of a need for extremely sturdy/roomy backpacks? I recently spoke to a college grad who said that all of his learning in HS was online, meaning he never needed to car…
We also had a bunch of text books in German school, but much cheaper backpacks were able to carry them. (And, you could also just 'forget' your textbook, and nothing really happened.)
The article tries to articulate the value add through attention to detail in manufacturing "so the bags survive 6 years of rough and tumble ", but I'm not really getting it. What am I missing? I had a $60-in-1995 northface backpack that lasted through hauling 5+ periods of textbooks every day, walking and biking to middle school and highschool. It worked fine, in fact my dad still uses it (30 years later) to hold and…
I came from a family that could easily have afforded the 450 USD school bag. But that would have been ridiculous to me. If you are rich and want to teach your kid to treat money so they can survive without inheritance, you definitely should do the opposite of buying them the 450 USD school bag. A lot about a good person is about valuing the right things the right amount. School bags are cool, but bad ones are not that much worse than 450 USD ones.
As someone coming from one of the richer families in my schools I always was the guy using what was there. My brothers old bag, some rucksack that wasn't in use anymore, a shopping bag. I certainly never looked rich. If I wanted anything more I had to buy it using my own money, and that was slimmer than the money of some of my poorer peers. If I made my case well and long enough in front of my parents they would support what I was trying to get with a fraction of their money. And there was always birthdays/christmas. I was one of the few kids in school not playing the game of defining yourself via branded cloths and I had a convinced stand on that. Nobody that I truly cared about gave a damn about this anyways, quite the opposite: Many had respect for me not playing these games and having the convidence to do it. To
My parents not just buying me every shit was one of the best educational things they ever did (and they did a lot of good).
450 USD is a lot of money for any bag, the only kind where this kind of money makes sense is specialized hiking gear (if you hike enough to justify the expense). But sometimes not spending 450 USD on a bag is the lesson you need to teach your kid.
The article tries to articulate the value add through attention to detail in manufacturing "so the bags survive 6 years of rough and tumble ", but I'm not really getting it. What am I missing? I had a $60-in-1995 northface backpack that lasted through hauling 5+ periods of textbooks every day, walking and biking to middle school and highschool. It worked fine, in fact my dad still uses it (30 years later) to hold and…
I enjoyed the article but like much of online content about Japan it comes off like obsessive fan service. Can you imagine carrying 1-2kg empty backpack with you every day? Just because something took long to make doesn't mean it's superior in production or quality or even perception. It's pretty, fashionable and the tradition is wholesome but that's where it ends. I got a free backpack with my new Thinkpad laptop re…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'll hazard a guess - Japan is a walking society, and these backpacks are being worn every day, laden with books, back and forth from home to school, or on buses or the subway. Americans generally get driven to school. The backpack is worn only between classes at school and then moved from car trunk to home, not worn during those times. I personally wore out a $100 Eddie Bauer backpack every other year or so during m…
German kids (typically) don't get driven to school, and get by with cheaper backpacks.
[1] https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/news/scout-bis-zu-300-euro-k...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I enjoyed the article but like much of online content about Japan it comes off like obsessive fan service. Can you imagine carrying 1-2kg empty backpack with you every day? Just because something took long to make doesn't mean it's superior in production or quality or even perception. It's pretty, fashionable and the tradition is wholesome but that's where it ends. I got a free backpack with my new Thinkpad laptop re…
I got a free backpack with my new Thinkpad laptop recently. It's light, well designed, mass produced, easy to personalize - would take this over the 450$ school bags any time of the year. Just to be clear: you're using your freebie bag to carry a laptop and not 6kg/13lb of schoolbooks, correct? Something tells me the answer is "yes" which kind of makes me wonder why you're mentioning it Do you also drive around in a…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My kid has been using the same $100 bag for his entire school career. He’s in 5th grade and walks to school over a mile 90% of the year. In a northern climate. That bag looks like it will last another 5-10 years. Frankly, his classmates have cheaper bags with similar outcomes so I doubt price is highly correlated with performance past a certain price point.
When I was in school in the 80s-90s I pretty much nevvvverrrr saw kids reusing bags for multiple years. I think cheap bags were just crappier back then But even the Jansports seemed to get replaced. I think kids were just rougher on their bags back then. I remember my bags absolutely bulging with 4-5 big hardbound textbooks. Don't see that much any more.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What am I missing? Likely a disrespect for a living wage for a common craftsman, and a misunderstanding of what quality goods actually are. Certainly a lot of kids here survived on cheap $25 jansports, but did the people making them?
Man I'm kind of a bag snob but even pricier brands that differentiate on quality and worker wages are not $400. I got a Tom Bihn Synapse backpack for around $200 in 2017 that I've traveled to many countries with and has been through I think way more than a kid going to elementary school. It's still going strong today. It was made in a US factory with workers being paid good wages. $400 is a luxury/captive audience/co…
$450 for an equivalent bag could be explained by things like cost of living differences, but the randoseru described in the article are smaller and made from less expensive materials. The design is arguably a little more complicated, but the price still seems high for what you're getting.
The article tries to articulate the value add through attention to detail in manufacturing "so the bags survive 6 years of rough and tumble ", but I'm not really getting it. What am I missing? I had a $60-in-1995 northface backpack that lasted through hauling 5+ periods of textbooks every day, walking and biking to middle school and highschool. It worked fine, in fact my dad still uses it (30 years later) to hold and…
> What am I missing? Likely a disrespect for a living wage for a common craftsman, and a misunderstanding of what quality goods actually are. Certainly a lot of kids here survived on cheap $25 jansports, but did the people making them?
Craftsman also use to make each nail by hand. Looks like kids getting saddled with heavy 200 year old bag designs whose function hasn't updated with the times.