Ginza Tanizawa: Pioneer of Japan's Bag Culture

The Suitcase That Returned Home

Ginza Tanizawa was founded in 1874. Its history begins with Tanizawa Teizo (1863-1943), who was born as the fourth son of a miso manufacturer in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo. He moved to Tokyo and started making bags for a business in Nihonbashi. The product he presented at the 1877 National Industrial Exhibition in Ueno, a nearby district, received an award and was later called kakuho (consisting of the two characters for "leather" and "wrap" separately). Teizo then merged the two characters into one word and called it kaban, meaning "bag."

President Tanizawa Shinichi, is Teizo's great-grandson. He says, "No photo remains of the bag he presented at the National Industrial Exhibition, but he likely used imported materials that began to come into the country through the Port of Yokohama following Japan's opening to the world." Teizo established his own business in 1887 and opened Tanizawa Bag Store in Nihonbashi. An old, revived catalog shows a varied lineup of products including suitcases, framed traveling bags and hat cases.

Ginza Tanizawa moved to its current location on Ginza Chuo-dori Street in 1890. Managing Director Tanizawa Yoshiro, expressed admiration for his great-great-grandfather's resolve, saying, "It must have made him go into debt, and looking at it from my perspective now, I think it was an amazing level of determination. He must have acutely sensed that the Ginza Chuo-dori Street would flourish in the future, and seeing people's clothing shift away from traditional kimonos, felt that bags would be next." Teizo was, indeed, a person with a pioneering mindset, demonstrated in 1918 when his storefront was the first in Japan to display a neon sign.

Late last year, Yoshiro found a suitcase the company had sold around 120 years ago on an online auction site and purchased it for about 8,000 yen. The suitcase had belonged to the grandfather of the man who put it up for auction. He said he found it when he was sorting through his late grandmother's belongings. "I think it's fate that the suitcase came back to Ginza Tanizawa a century later. The leather itself and the locks are fine, so you could still use it if you wanted to. It shows just how much hard work the craftsmen back then put into making good products and hoping they would be used."

The Dulles Bag, Representing Hope for Peace

The Dulles Bag, which is Ginza Tanizawa's flagship product, is a framed business bag with a large, rectangular opening and a lock. It is also called a doctor's bag. It was designed by Tanizawa Koshichi (1892-1982), the second president of the company. He was inspired by the bag carried by John Foster Dulles, a US politician and later the Secretary of State, who came to Japan to negotiate the peace treaty after the war. The Dulles Bag was released in 1951 with the catchphrase "Symbol of Peace."

Yoshiro shared his thoughts about his great-grandfather Koshichi, saying, "It was ingenious that he saw the bag in a photo in the newspaper and decided to make it." In an age when the starting salary for university graduates was around 8,000 yen, the Dulles Bag, which cost 5,000 yen was expensive. Nevertheless, its novelty, with nothing else like it in Japan, propelled it to popularity and made it a staple business bag.

In recent years, corporate employees have increasingly started adopting casual attires, and more people are using tote bags and backpacks, but many still value the functionality and image exuded by the stately and clean-cut looks of leather bags. Yoshiro says, "I don't think a lawyer stepping into a courthouse with a tote bag would look very impressive, after all. We've also had customers who said their company told them to use a bag with a lock when carrying important documents."

Using Traditional Skills to Craft Products

Ginza Tanizawa is releasing many new products to commemorate its 150th anniversary, including a new series for the Dulles Bag and an original women's bag. "Working in the store, I can feel that our customer's tastes are growing really diverse. They're looking for items that are one-of-a-kind or not something everyone else has," says Yoshiro with conviction. He worked at a different longstanding company before joining Ginza Tanizawa in July 2023 and is now in the process of rebranding the company's products.

One of his projects is a Dulles Bag with a bold, tie-dyed design that represents the sun. He had a young craftsperson make it using a mud-dyed cowhide from Amami Oshima, an island in southern Japan, that he had found at a leather trade exhibition. His other efforts to further expand the variation of Dulles Bags include smaller versions using indigo-dyed or ink-dyed crocodile skin and a traveling bag made from Himeji Black Leather, which is cowhide treated with lacquer.

Black Leather is the material that was used for samurai armor during the Warring States period (15th century to early 17th century). "I want to make bags that draw on the brilliance of Japan's traditional crafts and skills. If we don't, I'm afraid those skills will be lost forever," Yoshiro says emphatically.

Stores in Ginza are growing increasingly polarized these days, with the number of low-priced retailers rising among the international high-end brands. Yoshiro says, "Our products tend to be seen as too expensive for regular corporate employees but too cheap for people who can afford to be luxurious." In order to be more attractive to affluent customers, they began producing new original bags using premium leathers such as shrunken calf leather from Germany and buttero leather from Italy.

With a history of having provided the Imperial Household Agency with a full set of traveling bags for the former emperor when he was the crown prince, Ginza Tanizawa is committed to high quality. Repairs are also a part of the business that must never be neglected. Yoshiro says, "People tell us we are not very business savvy, but we want to offer products that last a long time and we want our customers to use them for a long time too."

"To the New Age" is Ginza Tanizawa's tagline as it celebrates 150 years. "I believe all longstanding stores have been taking on the challenges of the ages, so I want to do my best to step up to the challenge too." The pioneering spirit that has been embraced since the company's founding has now also been passed on to the young successor.