Today I took some pictures of the neighborhood kids going off to school. In our area, the children are divided into groups and they walk together to school with the older children being the leaders. The parents are requested to not take their children to school nor pick them up by car. There aren't any public school buses either so the kids have to use the public bus system if they live far away, or they walk. Some kids walk quite long distances! From our neighborhood it is about a 15 minute walk.All children in Japan start school in April when they are 6 years old. And each child carries a bookbag called a randoseru which I think is actually a Dutch word. The bookbags are all the same shape and until 10 years ago or so, only came in two colors. Red for girls, black for boys.
A randoseru is quite an expensive item but it is a big event for the up-coming first grader to be presented with a randoseru and start preparing for the educational world. The bookbags are made of heavy, waterproof leather and have two or three pockets for books and papers. I've heard that it is possible to buy one for as little as $100 but most parents figure that since the child will be using it for 6 years, that a more expensive randoseru is worth the cost. Often, grandparents, who wish to buy the new scholar something in celebration, will foot the bill for a randoseru (and a study desk!) and will pay as much as $1000 for a nice one. On the surface, I can't really see the difference in the price but I suppose the more expensive ones stand up better under wear. Most families will pay around $500.First graders are given yellow randoseru covers from the school and that makes them more visible and are considered a safety feature. That's also why all the kids wear yellow hats. The girls have berets, the boys have caps. Nowadays randoseru come in a rainbow of colors; at least I've seen colorful ones in the department store. But in our area I only see children carrying either red, black or an occasional navy blue. The orange and green and purple ones haven't been accepted in our little country town yet it seems!
When my kids were starting school, randosel still were mainly the black and red but there was one girl in the school who had a pink one. What a stir that caused! Everyone in the whole district knew who she was! When Leiya entered first grade I tried to steer her towards a brown or navy blue one. I mean, even women will carry brown handbags. I guess I don't really like the "everybody has to be the same" concept in Japan, and I thought she might want to show a little individuality. No way! She had to have that red one! (It irked me a bit that I was buying handbags for myself at $20 and here I was buying my kids bookbags that cost close to $500!)
12 comments:
Heavens above - somebody there realised very early on the value of a captive market - what a price for those book bags. Still I suppose if they last the course. It's great to see kids walking to school - in the UK very few children walk to school any distance. The roads around schools (particularly Primary schools age 4 - 11 yrs) are always extremely congested with parents dropping kids off and dashing off to work or wherever. By nature of the safe location the schools are often located tucked away in housing estates so the influx of traffic causes a massive problem at either end of the day. Amazingly you seldom hear of children being knocked down - miraculous. However when we lived in Gloucester we knew of a family that lived near a school whose son accidentally set the kitchen alight with a faulty toaster at about 3pm (school finishing time) - the house was literally gutted and they ;ost virtually everything because the fire appliances couldn't get near enough for all the parents cars. It is a huge problem here in the UK and I would never buy a property very close to a school. Kids in other countries in Europe walk to school - ours did in France albeit with me (20 minutes walk) and we have friends in Germany whose children walk 40minutes to school unaccompanied across Lubeck. I do walk ours to school here as my working hours allow it and it takes us about 15 - 20 minutes - but I do take the car if it's raining really hard
I understand your dilemma at the price of the bags!
Wow! I supposed Japanese children must be more responsible than mine...she loses her backpack on a regular basis...I'd hate to think about replacing a $500 one!
Really a VERY interesting post today. I am learning SO much about Japanese culture from you and I really do appreciate your writing about it. I live across the street from a Catholic school and the fenced-in playground is the view from my front door. Some would ask why would I want to live here? Well, two reasons, I like this house, and since I went to school there from grades 1-8, I have fond memories of it and it is not a negative issue with me to live across from it, although there are some schools where I might not want to live close, I don't know. Here the kids walk only short distances; the longer distances are covered by school buses.
My eldest granddaughter started school in Japan (her parents were teachnig English there) and at 19 she still has that book bag. She didn't use it once she came home so it's still in mint condition. She could read and write Japanese in Grade 2 but forgot it all when she got home. Too bad.
I so enjoy your posts about Japanese culture, Tanya.
Near Philadelphia, students who live within one mile of a school must walk; beyond that, busing is provided. Some of the bus routes are long and circuitous. When we moved to NP in 1980, it was very important to me that my kids be able to walk to elementary school and not have to ride a bus. As it turned out, we lived within one mile of the junior high and high schools, too, and they walked and walked and walked. In the upper grades, I usually participated in a carpool in the morning because they had to be there early. But if they were leaving school at dismissal time and had no late activities, they walked home, too.
We presently live within a block of the high school and although I work during the day, often when I get home I can hear the band practicing, or the cheering for some team and these are all good sounds . . . .
In the US they are doing studies (well...they feel the need to study EVERYTHING, lol) because the children are developing bad backs because of the heavy backpacks.
"Back in my day" it was terribly unfashionable to carry a bookbag, we carried the stack of books and papers in our arms to have it frequently dropped and scattered.
I was (of course) a bit of a rebel, and already deeply into sewing! I had a 2 mile walk, played the flute and carried a purse, I needed 3 arms. I fashioned a bag to fit my flute case out of my old jeans and the inseam was the handle. Can't imagine sewing on that denim without all the conveniences of today!
Thanks for your post, as usual, it was AWESOME.
Fascinating lesson on bookbags and all that these represent in your corner of the world. It's much different here with required school buses running, nearly empty, because parents insist upon driving their children to and from school thus clogging the roadways and wasting precious fuel.
Oh man -- I want one of those bags! Or, at least, a really nice leather backpack that will last. This year I finally invested in a $30.00 one for school, but it's already showing its wear after only two semesters.
I loved the culture lesson! I lived in Taiwan for almost 3 years when I was growing up. I was allowed to go with my parents on a trip to Japan one vacation. I have not been back since! I think its time! We are also planning a trip to Korea in the next couple of years. Our son was born there and we want to take him before he gets too...um...much of a teenager!
Fascinating post - what an investment. Reminds me of when I started Senior School and my Dad bought me a real leather briefcase. All the other girls had canvas shopping bags. I wanted a canvas shopping bag and stopped using the briefcase. The briefcase disappeared many years ago, and of course, I would now give my eye teeth for it. So much so that when we were in Florence last autumn I bought a satchel to make up for it.
Good gravy! There is no reason on earth why a book bag should cost so much! Even if they are made of leather - but it looks like they are made from cloth. That is incredible! Someone - or a bunch of someones - must be making a whole lot of money on these bags.
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