Lucky Bags!

a.k.a.
Fukubukuro: So cool a topic, it doesn’t need a clever blog title

One of my favourite Japanese traditions so far is definitely fukubukuro, also known as ‘lucky bags’, ‘mystery bags’ or ‘happy bags’.

As a long-time lover of the lucky dip, I was always going to go ape for fukubukuro.

On New Year’s Day, and for a short time thereafter, merchants sell fukubukuro – bags of mystery merchandise, often made up from last year’s fashion items or stock left over from the year gone by. Shoppers purchase these lucky bags at a discounted set price, and usually they don’t know what’s inside the bags until after they buy them. Sure, it’s a bit of a gamble, but you can walk away with a ridiculously good bargain.

On New Year’s Eve, while Canada and I were wandering through Shinjuku looking for an Indian restaurant, my eye was caught by a colourful department store window display of all the different lucky bags offered by the stores inside the building. Having just read about the tradition in Metropolis, I was both intrigued and excited. Later, as we walked past a clothing store window, I squealed with delight at the sight of a couple of employees packing folded clothes into a pile of canvas bags. “They’re making up the lucky bags!” I cried, giddy as a five-year-old (possibly alcohol had something to do with that feeling, too).

For the record, a lucky bag isn’t a mish-mash of spinning tops and red frogs, thrown together in a plastic bag and sold out of someone’s garage. Yes, some lucky bags are probably full of completely useless, unwanted goods (I mean, there’s a reason why some stock doesn’t sell, right?), but lucky bags are sold at both local novelty stores and top-quality jewellery and clothing stores. Bags range in price from 1000 yen or less, up to tens of thousands of yen – one of the most expensive bags is apparently sold by a jewellery store in Ginza. All kinds of stores make up lucky bags as part of their New Year’s sales – cosmetics stores, electronics stores, suit stores, homewares stores, clothing stores. So don’t be thinking that it’s like a $2 lucky dip from the corner shop – these bags are serious consumer business. Not that $2 lucky dips aren’t, mind you.

In addition to your more mainstream lucky bags, you can also get lucky bags full of specialty items – as seen by a trip to Akihabara yesterday, where I could have purchased a lucky bag full of cosplay outfits (sexy anime nurse, anyone?) or collectable anime figurines.

The bags can be excellent value for money. Apparently, sometimes you can save up to 80% on the items inside a lucky bag. A quick bout of Googling found many sites where people discussed in detail the wonderful lucky bags that they had purchased in years past. Sure, it’s technically going to be ‘last year’s’ items, or things that the store is getting rid of to make room for new stock, but generally the stuff is still pretty darn good. Stores may also put a special or prize item in some of the bags, which also encourages shoppers to purchase the mystery bags. If you go to an electronics store, you can get great value lucky bags with cameras in them, or ones that might have a surprise iPod inside.

Typically, lucky bags from popular stores (such as Muji, a neutral-toned everything store that is slated to have one of the best value lucky bags) are snapped up quickly, and people line up for hours, sometimes from midnight, to get their hands on in-demand fukubukuro. Often, stores make only a limited number of the bags – so you do need to get in quick, regardless of where you plan to shop.

Usually, the contents of the bags are a surprise – however, some stores tell you what is inside the bags via photographs, a sample, or a mannequin dressed in the lucky bag clothing. So if the surprise element worries you, you can still indulge in a lucky bag bargain while knowing what you’re getting.

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So, thoroughly excited by this concept, I rose early (read: 9am) on the 2nd of January and went out into the wide world (a.k.a. Shin-Yurigaoka) in search of my own New Year bargain. I was determined to get my hands on a lucky bag, or several if it was my lucky day.

Unfortunately, I missed out on the coveted Muji lucky bag, and also on a Uniqlo lucky bag. Not surprising, although it was still disappointing.

However, I took my time wandering through the department store, and was delighted by the piles of lucky bags I saw at the entrances to the stores – all in differently decorated bags, some canvas, some paper, some with ribbons or wild colours. It was so much fun! Prices seemed to hover between 5000 yen and 10,000 yen for a clothing lucky bag – so I decided to find a clothing store that I liked, and then check out their lucky bag situation.

I ended up going home with three lucky bags, and a baby blue kettle I bought for 1000 yen.

Lucky Bag #1: Jewellery Lucky Bag

This one was my first purchase. The jewellery store had some nice silver jewellery, and their bag was 3000 yen, so I splurged. When I cracked open the bag, I found a ring with a green stone, a necklace with a little leaf pendant, a necklace and bracelet made of clear plastic crystal beads, a pair of earrings with little dangling circles, and a bracelet with tiny hearts as the links. Was I happy? Darn tootin’.

Lucky Bag #2: Misc Lucky Bag

This one I got from a novelty store, and it was only 1000 yen so I bought it for fun. When I dove into the bag I found about equal amounts of crap and decent stuff. Decent stuff included a fork with a cartoon frog handle, a big shampoo dispenser with a Mickey Mouse design, a Nightmare Before Christmas pencil case and photo album, several cool retro postcards including one for Special K and one for Fruit Loops, some cute stickers, and the big Nightmare Before Christmas laundry bag it all came in. Crap stuff included a bright pink Lilo and Stitch purse thing, a gold and turquoise Bambi wallet (WTF?!) with a giant plastic diamond hanging off it, a vaguely racist key cover and wrist strap, and a Homer Simpson money box. The jury is still out on a faux leather black and silver Mickey Mouse handbag. All in all, while the value of the items in the lucky bag was clearly more than the 1000 yen I paid for it, there were only about three things that I would have ever considered buying under normal circumstances.

Lucky Bag #3: Clothing Lucky Bag

Definitely my favourite lucky bag purchase, though at 7000 yen it was also the most expensive. I had been eyeing this particular lucky bag all day, as the store had some very cute items (so I hoped that the lucky bag would also contain cute items). Since I hadn’t found any other stores I liked as much, I went back to check it out properly. After some pacing, I decided to go for it. I snapped up my final lucky bag and trundled home with my arms full of purchases.

Once home, I laid out the loot. The bag, which is a nice large canvas shoulder bag, contained a thin yellow jumper made of this nice soft woolly fabric, a loose grey cotton jumper with pockets in front, a grey long-sleeved top with buttons at the neck, a dress, a pair of black and white leggings, and a long dark green puffy jacket with a furry hood.

All of it is wonderful – the jacket is warm, all of the tops are perfect, and the dress is cute (though not my usual style). The leggings are a bit on the tight side, but overall, I think I got a pretty good deal. An excellent deal in fact!

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So all in all, lucky bags are a lot of fun. It pays to crunch the numbers and shop around, and it is also a good idea to make sure that you like what the shop is selling before you buy a mystery bag full of its wares. It’s possible to walk away with a dud, but you can always find a bargain – at the very least if you buy a lucky bag that has its contents on display. It’s true that you might end up with a bunch of stuff you would never usually buy, but that might not always be a bad thing.

I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the tradition of fukubukuro this year. I kind of wish I could do it again next year!