They say that to simply gaze upon one is lucky.
Longtime readers of this site will no doubt be familiar with fukubukuro, or “lucky bags,” which are sacks of a shop’s various merchandise sold at a discount during the New Year’s holiday. They’re great fun, but you’d be hard pressed to find one in Japan after the second week of January.
Probably the reason is that any lucky bag spotted well after the holiday season would appear as if it had gone unsold, and therefore was not very lucky after all. However, there have been sightings of the elusive non-New-Year’s lucky bag from time to time, and one was recently found by none other than our own P.K. Sanjun.
Well into mid-February P.K. came across a table full of fukubukuro outside a brand new 7-Eleven branch in Taito, Tokyo. The sign said that they were “Grand Opening Commemorative Lucky Bags” for 2,000 yen (US$17) each. That was certainly an unusual type of lucky bag, and come to think of it, P.K. didn’t recall even seeing a 7-Eleven fukubukuro among all the New Year’s ones in 2022 either, making this a really rare item.
So, naturally he bought one and took it back to the office for tallying. He asked the rest of the team if they’d ever seen such a thing and most said no, but one person said that a new 7-Eleven they went to last year had them.
This was certainly a white snake of lucky bags, and P.K. excitedly opened it up. So, without further ado, here is the 7-Eleven Grand Opening Commemorative Lucky Bag!
・Thick Cut Salt Potato Chips
・Assorted Japanese Sweets
・Chocolate Cookies
・Thick Cut Consomme Potato Chips
・Chocolate Cake
・Castella (cake)
・Salty Potato Snacks
・Rice Crackers
・Peanut & Chocolate Clusters
・Financier (cake)
・Vegetable Curry (instant)
・Miso Soup with Vegetables (instant)
・Soba Noodles (uncooked)
・Mokotanmen Nakamoto (instant ramen)
There were 14 items in total and valued at 2,500 yen ($21.70), which meant P.K. was getting savings of 500 yen ($4.34). Even better, it was a solid lineup of food without a clunker in the bunch. People sometimes scoff at store brand items, but 7-Eleven Japan takes them very seriously and they’re often neck-and-neck with regular specialty brands in terms of quality and deliciousness.
The addition of the Mokotanmen Nakamoto ramen was especially interesting. It’s a long-selling product and definitely has its legion of fans, but by putting it in a blind lucky bag, P.K. thought 7-Eleven was going out on a limb a bit. Then again, with more and more people in Japan embracing spicy food, maybe its not such a wild addition after all.
Nevertheless, the Grand Opening Commemorative Lucky Bag is a sold offering, so keep your eyes peeled whenever a new store opens near you.
Photos ©SoraNews24
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