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One of the first major adjustments I had to make after moving to Japan was making a habit of carrying a bag with me whenever I go out. Having grown up in L.A., it took me a while to overcome the notion that bags were strictly for students and people with a double set of X chromosomes, but eventually I saw the light. If you live in an urban area of Japan, you’re reliant on public transportation. Without a car and a trunk to haul stuff in, a bag is really the only way to carry anything you can’t fit in your pocket but don’t want to hold in your hand all day.

Of course, my resistance might have broken down a lot quicker if I’d known about the upcoming man bag that makes you look like a giant robot.

Since its premiere as an anime TV series in 1979, the sci-fi epic Mobile Suit Gundam has had a staggering number of sequels, spin-offs, and video game adaptations. The hero of each installment controls a new version of the knightly, vibrantly colored mecha called Gundam, but a long-running fan favorite is the Zaku, piloted by the lowest ranks of the series’ antagonists.

The Zaku serve little narrative purpose other than to validate the hero’s skill in battle by exploding in an impressive array of sparks, often provoked by little more than a hard look from the Gundam. Still, there’s something simultaneously cool and endearing about the Zaku’s plain green paint, singular pink eye, and especially the spiked shoulder of the aptly named Spike Armor configuration.

Soon, fans who enjoy watching the Zaku will have the chance to be seen as one too, with the Zaku Spike Armor Bag. At first glance it may look like a dorky fanny pack, but the Zaku bag is in fact a literal shoulder bag, which straps under your left armpit in order to perch atop your left shoulder like some kind of military-grade parrot.

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The bag has two pockets, obviously so you can keep the shells for your 120 mm machine gun separate from your smartphone, lest they roll around and scratch the screen.

The Zaku Spike Armor Bag goes on sale this December at a price of 5,775 yen (US$58).

Source: IT Media
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