Bellroy Tokyo Laptop Bag 16″ Review

Whether heading to a business meeting or taking a trip with rolling carry on luggage, you may not need to use a larger travel daypack as your laptop bag. We get it; we’re big fans of minimalism here, so we understand wanting to cut down on everything you want to carry. Many laptop bags are bigger backpacks, though, which may be more than you need.

That’s why Bellroy has slimmed things down for the Tokyo Laptop Bag 16”. It’s a messenger-style bag or briefcase with enough room for your computer and a few accessories, and that’s about it. It’s a slim bag we’ve been testing on trips to and from the office for the past few weeks, commuting by car and on foot. But how does it compare to the dozens of other messenger bags we’ve tested over the years (not to mention the daypacks and sling packs we’ve used that can also carry a laptop)? It’s time to find out.

External Components

Bellroy has quite a few bags with the “Tokyo” moniker, from the Bellroy Tokyo Totepack Compact to the Bellroy Tokyo Wonder Tote 12L and the Bellroy Tokyo Crossbody, with a bunch of stops in between. We’re not sure why they’re so fixated on the Japanese capital—maybe because they like the peaceful, minimal Japanese vibe?—but, for whatever reason, we kind of dig it. However, as they say, a rose would be a rose by any other name, and the Tokyo Laptop Bag fits squarely in the aesthetics of the line no matter what you call it.

It has a split, gusseted front design that looks like it’s hiding a pocket (spoiler alert, it’s not), a leather Bellroy logo badge in the center, and an interestingly textured recycled polyester exterior. That material is water resistant, a fact we were happy about when caught in a springtime shower. The fact that we’re still using the laptop that was inside the bag to write this review can testify to the fact that the water repellent works.

The YKK zipper to open the main—and only—compartment also has a water-resistant coating, which is good since moisture would seep right onto your device if it didn’t provide that sort of protection. It works well, as we expect of this well-known brand.

However, the same can’t be said for the other hardware on the bag. Two “custom carabiner clips,” as Bellroy calls them on its product page, connect the shoulder strap to the bag. You can attach them to two loops on the back, or you can use the rear loop on the right side and the front loop on the left. Supposedly, that makes it easier to carry crossbody instead of over one shoulder, though we didn’t notice much of a difference in how that felt during our testing period.

What we did notice is that the carabiners popped loose on their own. Twice. And let us tell you, it’s not a great feeling when you go to grab a bag out of your car and are left holding a strap with your work laptop dangling precariously from just one corner. The first time, we thought maybe we hadn’t paid attention when moving it between the rear and front attachment loops—mea culpa. The second time, we realized “it’s not me, it’s you,” to say what jilting partners everywhere actually mean, as the carabiner that let loose was not the one we had moved. So, while we wish we could tell you exactly why it happens, we can’t seem to pinpoint any problem. We double-checked the security of the carabiners after the first incident, and we haven’t been able to make it happen on command after the second. Unfortunately, sad to say, we stopped trusting it and have been simply carrying the bag by the top carry handles. It just seems safer.

Luckily, those carry handles are quite soft and comfortable to hold, and a 9L bag just can’t get so heavy that they dig into your palms. They are webbing strips folded over for additional thickness, and while there’s no extra padding in the middle, we don’t miss it.

There’s a luggage pass-through on the back panel, too, so you can slide it over your suitcase handle and bring it as your personal item on the plane. It’s a bit of a snug fit, but it works.

Should you choose to use the shoulder strap, it is minimal yet pretty comfortable. It’s a webbing strap that’s more textured than the carry handles and has an adjuster so you can find the right length for you. It’s attached to those carabiners with a strip of leather, which looks nice but means it is a tight squeeze if you were to, say, want to remove the included carabiners and instead use ones you trust.

Fit Notes

Like the rest of the line from Bellroy, the Tokyo Laptop Bag 16” has a sleek minimalist design we’re vibing with. It definitely fits in on city streets, in the boardroom, on a college campus, you name it, it’s going to be OK. It might be a little much for a Caribbean resort, though the Raven (read: all-black) colorway is like a little black dress—it’s good for every occasion, even if you have to be prepared for a client to call while you’re celebrating your 20th anniversary in Jamaica. Although, while you’ll look good, your spouse may be giving you “the look” if you do that, so we don’t recommend it.

Comfort-wise, it’s about what you’d expect of a one-strap bag. It sometimes rubs when we wear it crossbody, as it tends to rest near the neck, and it’s not the most comfortable with sleeveless outfits due to the rougher texture and lack of padding. Still, you’re not going for a two-and-a-half-hour hike wearing this bag unless your client is an old archeology professor tracking down the Holy Grail, and you can tough it out for Indy, right? Tell him we say hi!

Inside The Bag

Now we come to the part of our review that’s typically one of the longest, where we cover quick-access pockets, bottle holders, front admin panels, and the like.

There aren’t any. There you go, no tl;dr necessary.

There is a bit of organization inside, so let’s open the main compartment zipper from right to left and look. That’s the only way you can open it; there’s only one zipper pull, so you must open and close it the same way each time.

Against the back panel, we have the main event: the laptop sleeve. The back side is nicely padded with a vertical quilted pattern. It and the front side of the sleeve are covered in a soft scratch-resistant material to protect your device. This one holds up to a 16-inch laptop—it’s right there in the name, of course—but you can also get the Tokyo Laptop Bag in a 14-inch size. You’ll give up almost 2 inches (50 mm) of width and just over an inch (30 mm) of height in the rest of the bag to downsize like that, but you’ll get the option to get it in Everglade (a very grayish green) or Deep Plum (a very brownish purple) for your sacrifice, along with Raven (black), of course.

The laptop sleeve is ever-so-slightly suspended from the bottom of the bag, but we do mean slightly, so don’t go tossing it across the room just because it’s Friday. While the sleeve is softly padded, the top of the front portion, which serves as the divider keeping your laptop from intermixing with the rest of your gear, is more rigid to stay upright without flopping.

The front half of the bag, in front of the laptop sleeve, is divided into two parts with recycled nylon for the interior lining. The left side is open and has enough space for a tech pouch or over-the-ear headphones. This is also where the Bellroy tag resides, which we wouldn’t normally mention except that it incorporates a little hidden pocket for an AirTag to keep track of your gear.

The right side has a little more organization, with a slip pocket for your phone or this middle-aged writer’s reading glasses and two slip pockets for pens or a stylus. There’s space in front for a few more things, like tissues and a small toiletry kit, and that’s about it. Depending on your packing acumen, you may be able to fit some snacks for the plane or a paperback book, but you have to pick and choose what you bring; you can’t have it all.

And isn’t that just a perfect metaphor for life? The Bellroy Tokyo Laptop Bag 16” looks nice and works well most of the time, but you can’t always trust it, and you can’t have it all. It’s a good pick if you prefer to carry your laptop bag by hand or want something to pair with spinner luggage. If you want something to sling over your shoulder day in and day out, we’re sorry, but you might want something more reliable. Hopefully, this is just an issue with our brand sample, though, and not something other users encounter because it’s otherwise a pretty handy little bag.