Around the New Year’s Eve, in Japan begins the Fukubukuro mania, a Japanese-specific custom with a history of over 100 years… Fukubukuro are sealed “lucky bags” filled with random items, with prices varying from several hundred to hundreds of million yen. The most expensive such bag was displayed at a jewelry store in Ginza, with a price tag of 200.6 million yen (1.7 million USD)!

Their content usually includes only discounted articles, but to increase the buyers’ temptation, some stores also insert prizes in money or vouchers. However, the Fukubukuro are a gamble not just for customers, but also for some of the stores. While in some cases there are long queues of shoppers, other shops never manage to sell them all…

Fukubukuro, Higashiyama, Kyoto

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Japanese New Year Decoration, Kagamimochi