One of Japan’s most-anticipated lucky bags managed to exceed out expectations with a pair of awesome surprises!

There are a lot of fukubukuro/lucky bags that we look forward to during the New Year’s season in Japan, but one of our absolute favorites is the one from donut chain Mister Donut, who annually partners with the Pokémon franchise. This grab bag of discount coupons and exclusive merch appeals to two of the defining parts of the collective SoraNews24 psyche (our love of sweets and our love of cute characters) so we wasted no time in picking up our Mister Donut lucky bag as soon as we could.

Actually, our bundle, which cost 3,600 yen (US$24.90), is technically a fukubako, or “lucky box.” Semantics aside, it works like most other lucky bags offered by Japanese merchants, in that it contains a collection of items worth more than the price you pay for the fukubukuro. Something that makes the Mister Donut Pokémon lucky bags especially attractive is that the chain is extremely upfront about what you get, unlike other stores whose fukubukuro contents are largely shrouded in mystery until you open them. And yet, even though we’d already looked over the official contents announcement from Mister Donut, there were still some very cool surprises waiting for us inside!

Starting with something we did know about ahead of time, though, here is the coveted Donut Exchange Card.

He card included with the 3,600-yen lucky bag entitles you to 30 free Mister Donut donuts with prices 187 yen or less. We’ll save you the multiplication work and tell you that that equals 5,610 yen in free donuts, so even before getting to any of the cool Pokémon merch, you’re already ahead by more than 2,000 yen!

There is a minor catch in that you have to redeem those 30 free donuts by May 31, which, depending on your sweets-savoring schedule, may or may not be enough time to scarf down so many desserts. The happy qualifier to that catch, though, is that you can register your Donut Exchange Card through the Mister Donut smartphone app, and if your friends and family members have the app on their phones too, you can transfer free donuts to them, a generous gesture that will undoubtedly make you a hero in their eyes.

On the other hand, if even 30 donuts isn’t enough for you, you’re still in luck. Our first surprise was that our lucky bag bundle also contained a previously unannounced “Something Good is Going to Happen Coupon” booklet.

Just what sort of good things? Five percent off Mister Donut takeout orders of 800 yen or more, with a coupon to be used every month of the year for 2024.

▼ The different donut photos are purely decretive – you can order whatever you like and still get the discount.

OK, let’s get to the Poké-merch!

Once again, we pretty much knew what we were getting, since Mister Donut had released a list of its lucky bags’ contents and a few sneak-peak promotional images. Still, having the actual items laid out in front of us made us giddy, and they were all as cute as promised.

The flip-style calendar put our hearts at ease with its pastel pink color and illustrations of relaxing Pikachus, Wobbuffets, Quagsires, Fuecocos, Goomies, and the most laid-back/down Pokémon of them all, Snorlax.

The same group appears in their snoozy modes on a lengthwise memo pad…

…and also on a sturdy resealable pouch, which feels like just the right size for carrying enough makeup or other toiletries for an overnight trip.

We were especially impressed with the quality of the zippered pouch.

With sturdy stitching and brightly colored cloth, this felt like the sort of thing you’d pay 2,000 yen or so for at the Pokémon Center, but here it was as part of our bundle which was already giving us more in donuts than we’d paid for it.

And now we come to our next surprise with the schedule book.

This, too, was something we knew was included in the lucky bag ahead of time, since it was shown in Mister Donut’s preview photos, with five different possible covers. Each design is cute, and we had no complaints about this pink one.

But then we spotted this written in this included notice:

▼ “Two alternate covers are included. Please insert whichever cover you like inside the plastic outer covering.”

Sure enough, we had two more covers in our bundle, each as cute as the first!

Wow, so the lucky bag gives you three of the five covers Mister Donut showed in the preview? Nope! It actually gives you all five, because both of the alternates…

…are reversible!

And last, the 3,600-yen Mister Donut Pokémon lucky bag has, well, a bag, specifically an eco shopping bag. The strap is nice and long, so you can sling it over your shoulder, and it has a snap that shuts inside, making it a great way to lug all those free donuts home without worrying about them spilling out.

Now we just need to decide how many of those donuts we’re going to give away, and how many we’re going to eat ourselves.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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