Did you buy a Fukubukuro?

by katsudon_wpj · Published January 1, 2015 · Updated January 2, 2015

On New Year’s Day, many people in Japan rush into the stores to buy “Fukubukuro”. Some people wake up very early in the morning to line up outside of their favourite stores. Popular stores to get “Fukubukuro” are Denkiya (Electric Department Stores), Fashion Department Stores, Jewelry Stores, Cosmetic stores, and Cafes. “Fuku” means fortune or lucky and comes from the Japanese saying that “there is fortune in leftovers”, “Bukuro”(Fukuro) means bag. So, Fukubukuro is a lucky bag. Fukubukuro’s are filled with unknown random items from the store. It usually has a set price, for example 1000 yen, 3000 yen, 5000 yen, and or 10,000 yen. Most Fukubukuro’s are filled with leftover items from the previous year. However, if you are lucky, you will find very valuable items which exceed the price of your Fukubukuro bag.