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This nonconformist Japanese schoolgirl is ready for any bullies who tease her about her backpack

Casey Baseel Apr 15, 2019
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Mom was worried about other kids teasing her six-year-old, but this kid is wise (and tough) beyond her years.

In Japan, elementary school kids wear a special kind of backpack called a randoseru. The randoseru is supposed to last the student for all of elementary school, and so picking out a specific model is a big deal, since it’ll be a part of the kid’s weekday outfit for six whole years.

▼ A kid with a randoseru

The vast majority of randoseru are made of black, navy or red leather. However, when mother and Japanese Twitter user @y_yunpi’s oldest daughter started elementary school this month, she bucked backpack conventions in two ways, since not only is her randoseru beige, it’s also horizontally oriented, as opposed to the taller dimensions of regular randoseru.

娘のランドセル、ベージュ横型半かぶせの、親から言わせたら異端児ランドセルなんですが。入学前に｢みんなと違うから変なの、仲間はずれ｣って言われたらどうする？って聞いたら、皆と一緒じゃつまらないでしょ？そんなんで遊ばないとかつまんない人だねっていう
カッコイイよ。その心、忘れないでね pic.twitter.com/cM13qditKO

— ゆきんちゃん👧🏻‎11y👧🏻‎5y🥚26w（6月末） (@PeaPyyy) April 9, 2019

Kids are always quick to spot when something doesn’t fit in with an existing pattern, and that’s something you can say about society in general in Japan. Because of that, @y_yunpi thinks her daughter might get some rude remarks from other kids, and wondered how she’d react, so before her first day of school she asked the tyke:

“What will you do if someone says ‘Your backpack is different from everyone else’s. That’s weird. I won’t be your friend?’”

To which her daughter, who’s just six years old, replied:

“Isn’t it boring if everyone is the same? If someone won’t play with you just because of something like that, then they’re a boring person.”

“So cool,” tweeted the proud mother. “Hang on to that spirit.”

It’s worth pointing out that @y_yunpi’s talk with her daughter about being bullied was entirely preemptive, and she hasn’t since reported that her daughter has received any unkind treatment because of her choice of backpack. But if anyone does decide to give her a hard time, she’s already decided that there are more important things, and people, to care about in life.

Source: Twitter/@y_yunpi via Hachima Kio
Insert image: Pakutaso
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Follow Casey on Twitter, where he misses his Trekking Dragon backpack.