Apple Japan's "Lucky Bags"

There are a lot of interesting New Year’s Day traditions.  My mother, for example, swears on corned beef and cabbage as a way to bring good luck in the New Year.  Other people and other cultures have different things.  In Japan, it’s not the New Year that brings luck, but merchants brings the luck.  Japan has a custom called fukubukuro, in which merchants put together grab bags and sell them to customers, with the bags running for 50% or less of the value of the goods inside.  If you’re very lucky, you’ll do great and get some great deals.  If you’re not, you’ll still get some great deals.  Even Apple has jumped onto the trend.  Here’s a discussion of Apple’s Lucky Bags in Japan, which can include everything from Macbook Airs to wireless headphones.

So what does that mean?  Well, for $300 or so, you can get somewhere in the neighborhood of $750 in prizes.  The more you spend on your bag, the more goodies you get.  Now the bags themselves are randomly filled, and even Apple employees don’t know what’s inside, they’re just priced by tiers and it’s the luck of the draw as to who gets what.  Even if you don’t get the laptop, you still get a cool prize.  It’s the Japanese equivalent of Woot’s mystery box, and I for one hope it spreads.