We pop open a lucky bag essential for fans of the late King of Pop.

Although the custom of selling discounted bags of assorted items during New Year’s called fukubukuro is largely a Japanese thing, American businesses have been known to get in on the action as well. However, we may have found the first instance of an American person lucky bag.

We’re talking about none other than the world’s greatest pop star, Michael Jackson. Even his untimely death in 2009 hasn’t dimmed this bright star’s marketing potential. Our Japanese-language writer Sachi Ojiya came across the Michael Jackson fukubukuro sold from Japanese music merch retail website PGS for 7,560 yen (US$70). It promised about three T-shirts, four small items, and a limited edition calendar.

Sachi wasn’t really a huge Michael Jackson fan, but decided to take the plunge on this unique offering anyway and bought one. Here’s what she got:

Michael Jackson 2019 Limited Fukubukuro

● 3 T-shirts featuring Michael’s classic open arms pose…

… an “Olodum” pattern…

…and his ill-fated 2009 show at London’s O2 Areana.

● 3 Posters, including one with a moving image of Michael dancing when you change the angle.

Despite using a technique often found on children’s toys, the quality of this animation was surprisingly good and Sachi found herself tilting it back and forth more than she expected.

● 1 Button

● 2 Calendars

The quality of everything was very good, and Michael would probably at least be happy that his name wasn’t being tarnished with cheap junk. The calendars were especially nice. Each one looked exactly like a vinyl copy of his Thriller and Bad albums.

The Bad calendar contained photos of the album’s world tour.

But it was the world’s biggest-selling album that Sachi was eager to peel open. The actual calendar slid out of the jacket and even looked like a disc, giving her that nostalgic feeling of unwrapping one of Michael’s albums back in the ’80s.

However, it was then that Sachi received an unpleasant surprise…

Not only did this not have a SIDE TWO, she had been given a 2018 calendar by those smooth criminals!

This was probably the “limited-edition” calendar PGS had promised. They were technically right, in that you don’t get much more limited than an out-of-print calendar, but it still stung. The pictures were nice though.

Also, the Bad calendar was for 2019, so Sachi is still able to do some timekeeping with the king this year. She’ll just have to wait until 2029 for her next chance to break out the Thriller one.

Sachi was also a little confused by the Olodum T-shirt until she researched it and found out it was the same as the shirt Jackson wore in the They Don’t Care About Us video.

That was kind of neat, and a little cooler than just another T-shirt with “Michael Jackson” written on it.

Overall, the Michael Jackson 2019 Limited Fukubukuro was a quality bag of stuff. And if even a fair-weather fan like Sachi can appreciate it, then a true fan would love it.

Related: PGS
Images: SoraNews24
[ Read in Japanese ]