The start of the academic year in Japan's junior schools involves a host of new experiences for first-grade pupils. They need to get used to a backpack that will be with them for every school day for the next six years. It was originally introduced to Japan from either Germany or the Netherlands in the middle of the 19th century.

Sturdy and boxy, the "randoseru" is traditionally made of hard-wearing leather and is used to carry schoolbooks and writing implements to and from school every day. And while it is extremely practical, the precise reason why this style of backpack has been adopted nationwide remains somewhat unclear.

It is understood to date back to the early years of the Meiji Restoration, which ushered out the shogunate in May 1868. While the nation had been largely closed off to outsiders before the return of imperial rule under Emperor Meiji, the new government sought to build alliances with other states and to cherry-pick the best elements of each foreign country to adopt as new standards for Japan.

Rapid industrialization

For example, the government adopted the naval technology and practices of Britain's Royal Navy and scoured the West for other ideas and advanced industrialization techniques.

For its land army, Japan looked to the powers of central Europe: It was quickly realized that with guns replacing the swords that Japanese had previously used in combat, soldiers needed both hands free. That meant they would need to carry their equipment either on their belts or on their backs. Apparently Japanese leaders were taken by the backpacks worn by European troops.

Early on, the cloth backpacks issued to Japanese soldiers were given the term "haino," but with the popularity of Western terminology, they quickly became known as "ranseru," from the Dutch word for backpack "ransel." How this evolved to "randoseru" remains something of a mystery, although one theory is that the original Dutch term was conflated with the German word "landser," meaning foot soldier. An alternative suggestion is that the longer word was simply easier for Japanese people to pronounce.

Soon, the cloth backpack was replaced by a more sturdy leather pack and, in 1887, the status of the "randoseru" was assured when Japan's first prime minister, Hirobumi Ito, gave eight-year-old prince Yoshihito a leather school bag that closely resembled a soldier's backpack.

'Randoseru' endures

After Japan's defeat in World War II, there was an aversion to almost anything that had a military connotation, but the "randoseru" survived.

Receiving a backpack has been a rite of passage for millions of Japanese children. "I remember very clearly being given my 'randoseru' when I was six and just preparing to go into junior school," said Tomoko Hosomura, a housewife and grandmother from Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo.

"Back then, they only came in two colors," she told DW. "Boys always had black ones and girls had red packs. I remember being surprised at how big they were when you opened the top and how much could go in there. I also remember how heavy it was when it was full.

"My grandparents bought it for me, and it was a big deal then because they were not wealthy people," she added.

"But buying the 'randoseru' was considered the grandparents' responsibility, and we did the same a year ago when our grandson first entered junior school. It's a tradition and we wanted to continue it."

As well as being practical and extremely hard-wearing, "randoseru" are cleverly designed, even if that has not changed dramatically for more than a century. Japanese children are taught that in the event of an earthquake, they must hold their sturdy backpacks on the tops of their heads to give them protection against falling debris. Equally, the packs are so well made that they trap air when they are held upside down, so children in rural areas are taught to use them as a buoyancy aid if they fall into a river.

A good investment

Makoto Watanabe, a professor of communications at Hokkaido Bunkyo University, also recalls being presented with his shiny black "randoseru" ahead of starting school. And he says that despite the price – a simple version will start at 55,000 yen (€423, $504), but brandname bags, or those adorned with popular cartoon characters, can be as much as 100,000 yen – a "randoseru" is a very good investment.

"They are really rugged and designed to withstand anything that a child can put them through for the first six years of school, so I would say that's a pretty good cost performance," he told DW.

"But it's much more than that," he added. "After the war, there were many poor children and families, and making children wear a uniform and everyone having the same bag led to conformity. Those with more money could not show off, which was important.

"That has obviously changed now, but there is still the sense that it is important to have a fair environment for children to learn in," Watanabe said. "And now the 'randoseru' is just something that all children experience and associate with their school years."