We’ve seen a backpack that integrated a folding camping chair before. As great as that is, you have to admit, the darn thing is huge, making it viable for taking to the backcountry but not quite for gallivanting around the city. The Thanko Anywhere Chair Backpack should be more suitable for regular use, allowing you to carry your daily supply of school or work gear on a bag that doubles as a functional folding chair.
That’s right, it’s an everyday backpack with a built-in folding chair, so you can plop down and give your legs a rest while staring at the elevator slowly making its way to your floor, standing in line at the take out counter, or waiting for the train during your morning commute. No more standing around when waiting for anyone or anything – this thing lets you stay comfortably in place without getting your pants dirty.
The Thanko Anywhere Chair Backpack looks like a regular run-of-the-mill rucksack for daily use, with a boxy upright profile and 18-liter total capacity. The main compartment has five interior pockets for neatly organizing your gear, including a laptop pouch because… you know… all bags need a laptop pouch nowadays, while water bottle pockets and a zippered exterior pocket lets you keep a handful of items within easy reach. With its nondescript all-black boxy look, it’s not going to win you any style points, although the aesthetic should be generic enough that it won’t clash with any outfits or environments, either. Basically, it’s the kind of bag you can bring everywhere, from school and work to shows and gatherings.
You know how most backpacks have padded support in the back to keep things comfortable while you carry it around? This one has that, too, in the form of actual cushions. Except, those cushions are installed in a collapsible frame that actually folds out into a functional chair. It’s a real backpack chair, too, as opposed to a stool like that BagoBago pack, complete with support for your lower back, so you can even lean back just a tad while giving your feet a rest. And yes, it’s stable enough that you can work on your laptop while sitting on it, so you can turn any street corner into a veritable makeshift office.
The Thanko Anywhere Chair Backpack uses an actual metal frame for the chair, so the bag, with its integrated chair, weighs pretty hefty, coming in at around 3 pounds. Do note, the chair can only support a maximum of 176 pounds, which, let’s be honest, seems awfully low, considering how many heavier people will probably appreciate a backpack chair a whole lot more. With that said, the product is actually made and sold in Japan, so the seemingly lower weight limit kind of makes sense. Yeah, we’re hoping they make an international release that beefs up the maximum payload quite a bit, too.
The Thanko Anywhere Chair Backpack is exclusively sold in Japan for now, although folks outside Japan who are interested can pick up a pricey import from Japan Trend Shop, where it retails for $156.