(a) "Shoko Fukushima, associate professor of education administration at the Chiba Institute of Technology [1942- ; private] * * * On the first day of school this spring — the Japanese school year starts in April — flocks of eager first graders and their parents arrived for an entrance ceremony at Kitasuna Elementary School in the Koto neighborhood of eastern Tokyo."
(i) 福嶋 尚子 Shōko FUKUSHIMA 准教授. 千葉工業大学 工学部 教育センター [Center], July 16, 2024. https://www.lib.it-chiba.ac.jp/cithp/KgApp?resId=S000401
("学位[:] 東京大学 博士（教育学）2016; 新潟大学 修士 2005-2009; 新潟大学 学士 2000-2005）
(ii) school year or academic year 学年
(A) "Compulsory education [義務教育] was extended to nine years [in 1947] * * * The school year in Japan begins in April and classes are normally held from Monday to Friday. At the primary and secondary level, the school year consists of two or three terms, which are separated by short holidays in spring and winter, and a six-week-long summer break." en.wikipedia.org for "Education in Japan."
(B) Even though high school education is compulsory, a student still needs to take 高校受験 to enter one (despite promise of compulsory education up to and including high school).
(C) As for entrance exam to enter university 大学受験 (受験 = taking an examination), "Common Test for University Admissions (大学入学共通テスト, Daigaku Nyūgaku Kyōtsū Tesuto) is an entrance examination for Japanese universities, which was introduced in 2021 when it replaced the previous National Center Test for University Admissions. The exam is administered by the National Center for University Entrance Examinations (DNC) [(独立行政法人)大学入試センター, whose pronunciation, Daigaku Nyushi Center, accounts for the English acronym]. The two-day test is held on the first Saturday and Sunday on or after January 13 of each year." e.wikipedia.org for "National Center Test for University Admissions."
higher education in Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_education_in_Japan
("Though 88.7 percent of Japanese universities are private, the top ten universities in Japan are elite research institutions where 8 [7 of which, excluding Tōhoku U 東北大学 (based in 宮城県仙台市), are grouped into National Seven Universities 国立七大学] of them are national (University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Tohoku University, Kyushu University, Hokkaido University, Osaka University, Nagoya University, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology [東京工業大学]) and the remaining two being private institutions (Keio University and Waseda University). * * * Students applying to national or other public universities take two entrance examinations. Firstly, a nationally administered uniform multiple-choice achievement test (大学入学共通テスト, Daigaku Nyūgaku Kyōtsū Tesuto), and then an examination separately administered by the university the student hopes to enter (niji shiken (二次試験)). For example, for the University of Tokyo, the second exam includes five subjects: mathematics, Japanese, one foreign language, and either two natural sciences subjects or two social sciences subjects. For national and public universities, applicants usually have only one chance, as all national and public universities conduct exams on the same dates (25, 26, and 27 February). Applicants to private universities typically need to take only the university's examination, usually covering fewer subjects (1-3), and they are allowed to apply to as many universities and degrees as they want, as long as the test dates don't overlap.[6]")
(b) "Sarii Akimoto [the family name is usually 秋本], whose son, Kotaro, 6, had selected a camel-colored backpack * * * Ittoku Tomano, an associate professor of philosophy and education at Kumamoto University * * * In 1885, Gakushuin, a school that educates Japan’s imperial family, designated as its official school bag a hands-free model that resembled a military backpack from the Netherlands known as the ransel. From there, historians say, the randoseru quickly became Japan's ubiquitous marker of childhood identity. The military roots of the randoseru * * *"
(i) 苫野 一徳 准教授. 熊本大学 (1949- ; a national university in 九州) 教育学部, undated https://researchmap.jp/ittokutomano
("学位 博士（教育学）(早稲田大学)")
(ii) Gakushūin 学習院 (1847-1947 as national school 国立学校 (established in Kyoto but moved to Tokyo in 1908); 1947- as private school; school name came from 子曰、學而時習之、不亦說乎; then and now from kindergarten to university; before 1947 no entrance exam)
(iii)
(A) Alice Gordenker, Backpacks of the World: Origin of 'Randoseru.' Mar 19, 2012 https://alicegordenker.wordpress ... military-backpacks/
, whose photos showed soldiers in western Europe wore this kind of backpack.
(B) The ja.wikipedia.org for randoseru ランドセル says "背嚢（はいのう [ha-i-no-u, pronunciation for 背嚢, where ha-i and no-u are respective Chinese pronunciation for kanji 背 and 嚢]、バックパック [katakana for 'backpack']）のオランダ語呼称「ransel（オランダ語版）」（「ランセル」または「ラヌセル」）がなまって「ランドセル｣になったとさる."
my rough translation: Dutch word for backback is ransel [katakana would be 'ranseru'], which was was corrupted and became "randoseru."
(c) "At Tsuchiya Kaban, a nearly 60-year-old randoseru manufacturer in eastern Tokyo, families make appointments for their children to try on different-colored models in a showroom before placing orders to be fulfilled at the attached factory. * * * Shinichiro Ito, who with his wife, Emiko, was shopping this spring with their 5-year-old daughter, Shiori, said they never considered any alternatives to the randoseru [despite lack of equirement]. 'It is still the image you have when you think of an elementary school bag,' Mr Ito said. * * * Each Tsuchiya Kaban bag comes with a six-year guarantee on the assumption that most students will use their randoseru throughout elementary school. As a memento, some children choose to turn their used bags into wallets or cases for train passes once they graduate [from elementary school]. * * * Randoseru can cover half of the body of a typical first grader. Even unloaded, the average bag weighs about three pounds. Most schools do not have personal lockers for students * * * An illustration of a randoseru indicated the stage of stowing school bags in cubbies for the day."
(i)
*A) Tsuchiya Kaban 土屋鞄(製造所) https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/土屋鞄製造所
(1965- ; based in Tokyo; "創業者は土屋國男")
(B) Kanji 土 has two Chinese pronunciations (do, to) and one Japanese pronunciation (tsuchi).
(ii) Randoseru is crafted from cowhide, thicker than leather of shoes.
(iii) A photo this NYT report carries hints that the shelf 棚 in the classroom has, for each student, a large compartment for randoseru and PERHAPS a smaller compartment atop for miscellaneous things. Search images.google.com with (ランドセル 教室) and see randoseru by the desk, on the back of chair.
(iv) The quotation suggests that randoseru is used in elementary school only. And this is true.
--------------------------NYT
In Japan, cultural expectations are repeatedly drilled into children at school and at home, with peer pressure playing as powerful a role as any particular authority or law. On the surface, at least, that can help Japanese society run smoothly.
During the coronavirus pandemic, for example, the government never mandated masks or lockdowns, yet the majority of residents wore face coverings in public and refrained from going out to crowded venues. Japanese tend to stand quietly in lines, obey traffic signals and clean up after themselves during sports and other events because they have been trained from kindergarten to do so.
Carrying the bulky randoseru to school is “not even a rule imposed by anyone but a rule that everyone is upholding together,” said Shoko Fukushima, associate professor of education administration at the Chiba Institute of Technology.
On the first day of school this spring — the Japanese school year starts in April — flocks of eager first graders and their parents arrived for an entrance ceremony at Kitasuna Elementary School in the Koto neighborhood of eastern Tokyo.
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.
“An overwhelming majority of the children choose randoseru, and our generation used randoseru,” said Sarii Akimoto, whose son, Kotaro, 6, had selected a camel-colored backpack. “So we thought it would be nice.”
Traditionally, the uniformity was even more pronounced, with boys carrying black randoseru and girls carrying red ones. In recent years, growing discussion of diversity and individuality has prompted retailers to offer the backpacks in a rainbow of colors and with some distinctive details like embroidered cartoon characters, animals or flowers, or inside liners made from different fabrics.
Still, a majority of boys today carry black randoseru, although lavender has overtaken red in popularity among girls, according to the Randoseru Association. And aside from the color variations and an increased capacity to accommodate more textbooks and digital tablets, the shape and structure of the bags have remained remarkably consistent over decades.
The near totemic status of the randoseru dates back to the 19th century, during the Meiji era, when Japan transitioned from an isolated feudal kingdom to a modern nation navigating a new relationship with the outside world. The educational system helped unify a network of independent fiefs — with their own customs — into a single nation with a shared culture.
Schools inculcated the idea that “everyone is the same, everyone is family,” said Ittoku Tomano, an associate professor of philosophy and education at Kumamoto University.
In 1885, Gakushuin, a school that educates Japan’s imperial family, designated as its official school bag a hands-free model that resembled a military backpack from the Netherlands known as the ransel. From there, historians say, the randoseru quickly became Japan’s ubiquitous marker of childhood identity.
The military roots of the randoseru are in keeping with Japanese educational methods. Students learn to march in step with one another, drilling on the playground and in the classroom. The school system did not just help build a national identity; before and during World War II, it also prepared students for military mobilization.
After the war, the country mobilized again, this time to rebuild an economy with dutiful, compliant workers. In recognition of the strong solidarity symbolized by the randoseru, some large companies would give the backpacks as gifts to the children of employees.
That practice continues to this day. At a ceremony earlier this year at the Tokyo headquarters of Sony, Hiroki Totoki, the company’s president, addressed a group of 250 rising first graders.
He described the randoseru ceremony — the company’s 66th — as “an important bond that connects families.” After Mr. Totoki’s remarks, Sony employees handed out the backpacks, all of them embossed with a corporate logo.
Grandparents often buy the randoseru as a commemorative gift. The leather versions can be quite expensive, with an average price of around 60,000 yen, or $380.
Shopping for the randoseru is a ritual that starts as early as a year before a child enters first grade.
At Tsuchiya Kaban, a nearly 60-year-old randoseru manufacturer in eastern Tokyo, families make appointments for their children to try on different-colored models in a showroom before placing orders to be fulfilled at the attached factory. Each bag is assembled from six main parts and takes about a month to put together.
Shinichiro Ito, who with his wife, Emiko, was shopping this spring with their 5-year-old daughter, Shiori, said they never considered any alternatives to the randoseru.
“It is still the image you have when you think of an elementary school bag,” Mr. Ito said. Shiori tried on bags in several colors, including light blue and dusty rose, before settling on a gray leather randoseru that cost more than $500.
Each Tsuchiya Kaban bag comes with a six-year guarantee on the assumption that most students will use their randoseru throughout elementary school. As a memento, some children choose to turn their used bags into wallets or cases for train passes once they graduate.
In recent years, some parents and children’s advocates have complained that the bags are too burdensome for the youngest children. Randoseru can cover half of the body of a typical first grader. Even unloaded, the average bag weighs about three pounds.
Most schools do not have personal lockers for students or much desk storage space, so students frequently carry textbooks and school supplies back and forth from home. And in a culture that puts a high value on hard work, patience, perseverance and endurance, the movement to relieve children of the randoseru burden hasn’t gotten very far.
“Those who have no heart say that ‘recent children are weak; back in our day we carried around those heavy bags,’” said Ms. Fukushima, the education professor.
A few manufacturers have developed alternatives that retain the randoseru shape while using lighter materials like nylon. But these have been slow to gain traction.
On a recent morning, Kotaro Akimoto, a first grader, left for school carrying a bag that weighed about six pounds, about one-seventh of his body weight. Walking the 10-minute route to school, he joined several other classmates and older students, all of whom were carrying a randoseru.
In Kotaro’s classroom, Megumi Omata, his teacher, had posted a diagram of morning tasks, with pictures to represent the order in which the students should proceed. An illustration of a randoseru indicated the stage of stowing school bags in cubbies for the day.
At the end of the day, Kaho Minami, 11, a sixth grader with a deep-red randoseru stitched with embroidered flowers that she had carried throughout elementary school, said she never yearned for any other kind of bag. “Because everyone wears a randoseru,” she said, “I think it is a good thing.”
Hisako Ueno and Kiuko Notoya contributed reporting.
caption for photo 3: The shape and structure of randoseru have remained remarkably consistent compared to what students carry today.
caption for photo 2: A child trying on a randoseru at the Tsuchiya Kaban showroom, a manufacturer in eastern Tokyo.
caption for photo 1: In recent years, growing discussion of diversity and individuality has prompted retailers to offer the backpacks in a rainbow of colors and patterns.
作者: choi 时间: 7-17-2024 14:50
Now that in Japan, randoseru is used by students in elementary schools only, what do students of middle and high schools carry (as well as wear)?
Japanese-English dictionary:
* kaban かばん 《鞄》 (n): "bag; satchel; briefcase"
* uwabaki 上履き 【うわばき】 (n): "hallway slippers; indoor shoes" (The uwa- is one of many Japanese pronunciations of kanji 上. The verb 履く(pronounced ha-ku) means :to put on (lower-body clothing, e.g. pants, skirt, footwear)" and 履き (pronounced ha-ki) is the corresponding noun. Because haki is not in the starting position of a compound word, it is softened here to baki.)
^ Its antonym is 下履き(pronounced shitabaki) meaning "outdoor shoes."
* tsume-eri 詰襟 【つめえり】 (n): "stand-up collar"
^ tsumeru 詰める 【つめる】 (v): "to cram"
* hotena はてな; ハテナ (int[erjection]): "(1) dear me!; good gracious!; (int) (2) (used before sentences expressing a doubt) well; let me see; now"
(1) secondary education in Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_education_in_Japan
("Secondary education in Japan is split into junior high schools (中学校 chūgakkō), which cover the seventh through ninth grade, and senior high schools (高等学校 kōtōgakkō, abbreviated to 高校 kōkō), which mostly cover grades ten through twelve."
, whose photo in the upper right corner carries a caption: "Japanese high school students wearing the sailor fuku."
section 2 Usage: "The Japanese junior and senior-high-school uniform traditionally consists of a military-styled uniform for boys and a sailor outfit for girls." On the left margin is a photo whose caption says in part: "At some schools, students wear uwabaki [defined at the top], a kind of soft slipper meant to be used only indoors. * * * Regardless of what type of uniform any particular school assigns its students, all schools have a summer version of the uniform (usually consisting of just a white dress shirt and the [same] uniform slacks for boys and a reduced-weight traditional uniform or blouse and tartan skirt with tie for girls) * * * "
section 3 Gakuran: The gakuran (学ラン), also called the tsume-eri (詰襟), is the uniform for many middle-school and high-school boys in Japan. The colour is normally black, but some schools use navy blue. The top has a standing collar
section 4 Sailor fuku: "It was introduced as a school uniform in 1920 at Heian Jogakuin (平安女学院)[not high school- but college-level; founded by Church of England 英国国教会 and based in Kyoto] and 1921 by the principal of Fukuoka Jo Gakuin University (福岡女学院),[10] Elizabeth Lee. It was modeled after the uniform used by the British Royal Navy at the time, which Lee had experienced as an exchange student in the United Kingdom.
Note for section 3 above:
(a) The ja.wikipedia.org for 学生服 states: "学ランの「ラン」は和蘭陀の「ラン」を指し、江戸時代に洋服を蘭服と呼んでいたことに由来するという説がある。つまり呉服（中国由来のスタイルの服＝今でいう和服）に対しての蘭服（西洋の服）として、蘭学同様鎖国中は和蘭陀が西洋全てを代表する名前となっていたためである[2]。"
my rough translation: The ran in gakuran refers to the ran in Oranda 和蘭陀 [Holland]. Edo period called 洋服 as 蘭服. in contrast to 呉服 (from China, which is nowadays we call 和服), the 蘭服 to reference 西洋の服 is same as 蘭学, as during 鎖国, 和蘭陀 [Holland] stood for the whole 西洋.
The 呉 in 呉服 refers to the state of that name dyring 中国の春秋時代, not the one of three-kingdom period.
(b) collar (clothing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collar_(clothing)
section 4 Types:
• Standing or stand-up [in Japan: 詰襟, defined at the top]
• Turnover [in Japan: 折襟 (pronunciation: ori-eri); the collar we see everyday everywhere]
• Flat
(i) For stand-up collar, see Pattern Construction for Stand-up Collar. M Müller & Sohn (Munich-based; The founder was German, Michael Müller), Mar 6, 2023. https://www.muellerundsohn.com/e ... or-stand-up-collar/
(ii) More examples of collars can be found in
Collars. Family & Consumer Sciences Extension, School of Human Environmental Sciences, College of Agriculture, University of Kentucky, undated (document No: CT-LMH.185). https://fcs-hes.ca.uky.edu/sites ... iles/ct-lmh.185.pdf
(3) In Japan, both 中学生 and 高校生 (the latter in Japan means high school student; male and female alike n both) carry not (rigid) randoseru but (soft) kaban with two shoulder straps. See
(a) Inside the Bags of Senior High School Students. In Lesson 18 Comparing - 100-yen Shop. Japan Foundation 国際交流基金 (1972- ; independent institution of Japan government based in Tokyo to disseminate Japanese culture), undated https://www.erin.jpf.go.jp/en/lesson/18/let-us-see/
Viewing the video or not is not important; what you should do is view photos 1 (which is leftmost) and 2 in the top row and read respective captions. 作者: choi 时间: 7-17-2024 15:03
In Taiwan, from elementary school to high school, students carry (soft) canvas 帆布書包 with one shoulder strap slung diagonally across. But just now I checked, it seems that most carry a backpack.
