Mr. Sato visits the Iwayuru Junk Shop in Tokyo’s Akihabara district in search of a true lucky bag: one where you don’t know what you’ll get inside.

The problem with lucky bags (or fukubukuro in Japanese) these days is that many times a shop will tell you exactly what’s inside, thus negating the involvement of any actual luck. It’s a pet peeve that Mr. Sato has long had, so he set out to satisfy his sense of adventure with a real lucky bag, and he knew just where to get one.

He took his time heading down to the Iwayuru Junk Shop knowing full well that there would be no crowds or lines at all. Mr. Sato was familiar with this shop in the part of Tokyo known for its electronic retailers, and, with “Junk” in the name, one could easily guess what their range of merchandise is like.

When our hero arrived, the Iwayuru Junk Shop Fukubukuro were set up on a lavish display with the advertised price of 3,000 yen (US$25).

Unfortunately, this store also tipped their lucky bag hand by Scotch-taping a sheet of paper saying that a “DVD player” and “digital camera” were among the goods. Those items seemed like rather high-end items for 3,000 yen from a junk shop…

Still, there was a huge element of risk in this purchase, but Mr. Sato took the plunge and bought one. As he hauled it back to the office he was surprised at how heavy it was, and when he returned he found it weighed in at 5.1 kilograms (11 pounds). Luckily, Mr. Sato regularly benches 10 kilograms (22 pounds) at the gym, so this was no problem.

He tore open the bag, expecting to see a tangled mess of wires and bolts. However, there ended up being actual packaged items inside!

With that little jolt of hope, Mr. Sato started check the inventory of the bag.

2016 Iwayuru Junk Shop 3,000 Yen Fukubukuro

▼ Five Pairs of “Music Inner-Phones”

There’s nothing worse than when one of your favorite earphones shorts out, so it’s nice to have a back-up pair, or five. Unfortunately, as these were “Music Inner-Phones” (the “ear” is implied), Mr. Sato would have to look elsewhere to listen to his favorite NPR program…or would he?

▼ Four Pairs of “Stereo Innerphones”

These innerphones don’t discriminate. And just for good measure…

▼ One Pair of Earphones (Innerphones?) in a grimy dime bag

With his earphone situation fully under control, Mr. Sato went to get his vintage 2012 Sony Walkman mp3 player. But with all the dangerous corners and hard concrete outside he wouldn’t dare take such a valuable piece of equipme…oh wait.

▼ One Starting Set for a February 2012 Model Sony Walkman

Speaking of cases…

▼ Eight iPhone 5 Cases and Eight iPhone 4/4s Cases (with bunny ears)

Mr. Sato currently uses an iPhone 6 but who knows what will be in style down the road, so these were good to have around in case those models make a comeback.

▼ Four Xperia Screen Protectors

For when Mr. Sato is finished with his eighth iPhone 4.

▼ One USB Hub and Three USB cables for the Nintendo DSi

▼ One Four-Way USB Hub that’s only compatible with Windows Vista, XP, or 2000

▼ Eighteen CD Sleeves (also compatible with DVD or CD-R)

▼ Seven Memory Card Readers

▼ Four Flashlights

Mr. Sato was a little surprised to see this next item among the “junk” items. Guess that live-action movie didn’t do the franchise any favors…

▼ One Miniature Figure of the 3-D Maneuver Gear from Attack on Titan

▼ Eight PS2 Games including two copies of Hot Shots Golf 3

But there were still the main items that were advertised at the shop to be seen.

▼ One Lumix Compact Digital Camera

It did come with a spiffy carrying case. However, it did not come with the specialized battery that it needs to work.

▼ One Portable DVD Player

“Coby” was a brand that Mr. Sato trusted, but he couldn’t comment on the playback quality since there was no adapter to turn it on.

As the saying goes, “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure,” but that really depends on the man and the junk in question. Since this bag was loaded with a whole lot of junk, Mr. Sato was able to find some little treasures for himself inside, so he was happy overall.

A true Lucky Bag is a lot like life: Sometimes you get a handy USB Hub and sometimes you get a pair of questionable earphones in a dirty bag. In the end that reminder alone was well worth the 3,000 yen.

Original article by Mr. Sato
Photos: RocketNews24
[ Read in Japanese ]