Let me confess my weakness: women's briefcases. I don't mean buying them; I mean peeking into those belonging to my friends, and begging them to take out the contents so I can look them over and go "Heeeee, soonandaaa (Oooh, so THAT's what it's all about)."
You'd never guess the sheer number and variety of small items, the little personal touches that speak more about a woman's true personality than anything she may reveal to a boyfriend in privacy. Men's briefcases are vastly boring in comparison: Take it from me, those things may look big and heavy but they often don't carry anything more than a laptop, a Palm Pilot and the occasional packet of Xylitol gum. What are they going to do in the event of an immediate evac situation or alien invasion -- send e-mail?
The hataraku onna (working woman), however, packs an entire universe into the space of a single Gucci or Biton (Louis Vuitton), often just large enough to store an A4 file holder. My friend Yumi (34 years old, editor at a woman's fashion magazine) says that anything big is dasai (uncool), but it will not do for the briefcase to be too small, either: "Shigoto ga dekinai youni mieruno wa dame (I don't want to look like I'm not good at my job)."