New Year’s lucky bags, or fukubukuro, are a fun and exciting Japanese tradition, but just how much would you be willing to spend on one of them?
Many people line up to buy lucky bags in the new year at stores across Japan, sometimes braving huge crowds and stiff competition to get their hands on a bag from the shop of their choice. Go shopping in Japan in the first few days of January, and you’re sure to find lucky bags in virtually every product range imaginable, from affordable everyday items to things that won’t fit in a bag, like trips and cars! And this time of year, it’s always entertaining to see what unbelievably outlandish lucky bag items are going to be offered by luxury department stores. To give you an idea, we thought we’d share with you some of the more unusual and expensive lucky bag packages that Takashimaya Osaka Department Store will actually be offering in 2016.
Granted, department stores have always offered exclusive and pricey lucky bags, but particularly in recent years, it seems people have been willing to pay a premium for quality products that they really want. As such, there are plenty of expensive lucky bags in the price range of tens of thousands of dollars (or higher) being offered by Takashimaya Osaka for 2016.
Among them, the most amazing and precious package by far has to be this gold tea ceremony set priced at a whopping 201,600,000 yen (roughly US$1.6 million)!
Yes, this entire 13 piece tea ceremony set is made of gold — approximately 19 kilograms (42 pounds) of it! We guess that kind of explains the mind-boggling price. There will only be one set available for sale, although we have to wonder if there’s anyone really willing to pay $1.6 million for a tea ceremony set. We’d really like to know if and to whom the set is sold, but we’re guessing that information won’t be made public.
What we do know is that they have many other intriguing lucky bags, like this miniature Japanese bottle armor and sake set that costs 100,000 yen ($830)!
This miniature traditional Japanese armor was made by expert craftsmen in a size that fits over a sake bottle. The armor is a recreation of what the famous medieval warlord Yukimura Sanada wore in battle, and the package also comes with a bottle of sake named after the warlord, the Yukimura Shutsujin. Oh, and if 100,000 yen is a bit steep of you, they also have a (slightly) more affordable version in red for 60,000 yen ($500).
Or how about this silver monkey ornament that will be selling for 151,200 yen ($1,256)?
2016 is the year of the monkey, and this 9.5 centimeter (3 3/4 inch) tall figure should bring you loads of good luck. If you’re not quite convinced of its value, you should know that this isn’t just an ordinary figure but a fine piece of art created by a bona-fide Order of Culture-winning artist!
Of course, if you’re looking for something high-end, you can always go for jewelry, like the 6.51 carat diamond lucky bag worth 20,160,000 yen ($167,489) or the 12,000,000 yen ($99,696) coral ring lucky bag, but some people might find the “Year of the Monkey Wine” lucky bag more enjoyable. For 360,000 yen ($2,990), the bag includes three bottles of wine from previous years of the monkey: a 1992 Opus One, a 1992 Château Pétrus, and a 2004 Champagne Thiénot Cuvée Stanislas. Some very nice wines indeed!
Other lucky bags offer a unique experience, like the 2,016,000 yen ($16,750) “Personal Coming of Age Ceremony” package, where you can get a high-quality kimono (including the undergarment and obi belt) personally tailored and then get pictures taken in it with your family at various locations in Kobe or Kyoto, complete with professionally done make-up and hair. Or, for something much more casual, the “My Namba” lucky bag (a pun on the new My Number national identification system recently introduced in Japan) will offer the opportunity to go on an eating and drinking spree at 12 restaurants in the Namba area in Osaka over a total of three days for a mere 2,016 yen ($16.75).
Of course, there are other lucky bags with much more affordable price tags, including some especially tailored for foreign tourists with goodies like kitchen knives, thermos bottles and skin care products, but we think it’s still a lot of fun to see the extravagant packages sold at unbelievable prices.
So, would you be interested in buying any of the lucky bags mentioned here?
Source: Digital PR Platform press release
Original article by: Yayoi Saginomiya ©Pouch
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