Randoseru

"The randoseru is an indispensable object in Japan which gives poetic charm to spring,” I explained to Leigh Hollywood, but I don't think he understood.

It was an unconstructed ballistic nylon (I think) messenger bag, with a back pocket that unzipped to a set of padded shoulder straps that turned it into something roughly the same shape as a randoseru.

'Hello, Miki darling! Where did you get that wonderful randoseru?' Kyoko asked.

Seeking to capture an iconic moment mirrored across generations of Japanese family photo albums, the children, almost all of them carrying randoseru, lined up with their parents to pose for pictures in front of the school gate.