Ricoh’s New Limited-Edition Camera Straps Are Made From Train Seats

Ricoh Imaging is releasing a limited edition camera strap in Japan that is sure to excite the country’s many passionate train photographers, also known as “toritetsu.” The new camera strap, limited to under 500 total units, is made from fabric taken from a retired Marunouchi Line 02 Series train carriage.

Tokyo Metro used these trains on its Tokyo Metro Maunouchi Line subway from 1988 until 2024, and Ricoh Imaging has obtained some of the highly durable seat fabric from the retired carriages to make its new Pentax camera straps.

As CAPA Camera Web reports, the camera company thoroughly cleaned the seat fabric before handing it off to artisans to carefully sew and stitch the fabric into new camera straps, essentially “upcycling” the train seats. The classic fabric texture and pattern have been fully preserved, and new Tokyo Metro and Pentax tags have been sewn on. The special edition camera strap also includes the sleeve badge that Tokyo Metro employees wear on their uniforms.

The red camera strap is made from fabric from the train’s “regular” seats, while the blue straps are made from fabric from the carriage’s “priority” seats. There will be 230 units of each strap available to train-obsessed photographers. Ricoh Imaging is selling 150 of each colorway at its Pentax Clubhouse starting on February 6, while the remaining 80 blue and 80 red camera straps will be sold at Metro canned food stores beginning on February 16. Each strap will cost 9,280 yen, which is just under $60 at current exchange rates. Considering it is a limited edition, full-size camera strap made from highly durable material, that is an extremely reasonable ask.

Alongside selling the straps on February 6, the Pentax Clubhouse is also showcasing actual parts from the retired Marunouchi Line 02 Series train carriages in a special display.

Trains are a popular photographic subject worldwide, but perhaps no country loves them quite as much as Japan. Japanese camera manufacturers have almost universally implemented “trains” as a subject detection type for their AI-assisted autofocus systems and train companies have even had to start cracking down on dangerous behavior by photographers trying to get the perfect shot of a passing train. There is little doubt that Ricoh Imaging’s very cool new camera straps, literally made from train parts, will be a smash hit with photographers later this week.

Image credits: Ricoh Imaging