Fukubukuro gift bags from Matsuya Department Store (Photo: Matsuya Department Store)

(Writer: Mark Buckton)

To call the Japanese New Year custom of 'Fukubukuro' lucky bags a lucky dip is something of an understatement - but the concept is pretty much the same; a fixed amount of money up front then cross your fingers and hope for the best.

Fukubukuro, in as much as the Japanese have turned them into an aspect of shopping culture perhaps unique to the Land of the Rising Sun, are, in contrast to fairground and birthday lucky dips, the Big League. People across Japan, primarily of the fairer sex go so far as to circle particular days in their calendar based on just exactly when their favorite department stores or boutiques schedule a fukubukuro sale, and often, in family or friend manned teams plan arrival at fixed locations, time to be spent heading for a certain floor, and exactly how many bags to purchase before going so far as thereafter to confirm transportation routes to the next selected outlet. It is not unusual to see some participants in the madness that are fukubukuro lines, dashes from the door, and battling over bags at the most popular outlets, after purchase, heading to a coin locker before heading off on the next leg of their mission.