Japanese convenience store chain tempts us with a good time. 

The Japanese tradition of retailers releasing lucky grab bags known as “fukubukuro” has changed over the years, with many companies now selling their bags well ahead of the usual New Year’s Day start date, and sometimes just to spread joy regardless of the season.

One big name currently playing with fukubukuro conventions is Japanese convenience store chain Lawson, who recently surprised customers by adding lucky bags to select stores on 2 December. We stumbled across the bags by happy accident, when they immediately grabbed our attention with their bulging appearance, as the contents threatened to spill out of them.

With no major advertising drive to promote them, the new bags are like a secret find, bringing happiness to those who discover them. We needed no convincing to purchase one of the bags for 2,160 yen (US$13.84), but before we headed over to the register we lifted a few of them up to see if there was any weight difference that might suggest some bags presented a better deal than others.

As they all seemed to be evenly weighted, we picked one out at random, and on the walk home we were convinced that one of the items inside must be a bottle of drink, given how heavy it was. With a multi-bag pack of Tabekko Animal Biscuits on top of it all, this promised to be a generous haul that might just live up to the words printed on the packaging.

▼ ハッピーあふれそうな福袋 (“happy afuresouna fukubukuro” [“happy overflowing lucky bag“])

So what was inside the Lawson Fukubukuro? Let’s take a look at the contents, all listed below.

・Doritos (mild salt flavor)
・Baby Star Dodekai Yakisoba (Seaweed Fragrant Sauce Mayonnaise Flavour)
・Pocky (8 bags, strawberry flavour)
・Shrimp black pepper
・Tabekko Animal Biscuits (6 packs)
・Rice crackers
・Haribo Mixed Sour
・Cream sandwich cracker (family size)
・Mix baked donuts
・Fujiya Ginza kiln-baked brownies
・Morinaga Salted Caramel
・Salted buttered peas
・Acecook Corn Salt Butter Ramen
・Acecook Yokohama Tonkotsu Soy Sauce Ramen
・Maruchan Noodle Making (Chicken Soy Sauce)
・Donbei (fried udon noodles with dashi soy sauce)
・Donbei PRO High protein & low carbohydrate

That’s a total of 17 items, which weighed in at a hefty 2.1 kilograms (4.6 pounds). By our estimate, the contents were valued at around 4,000 yen, representing a 1,840 yen discount.

One thing we didn’t want to count with a bag like this was the calories, but we were surprised to find that the contents could be divided into three categories: Noodles (left, below), Salty (middle) and Sweet (right).

Looking at it this way, we could see how well balanced the offerings were. With six each in the Sweet and Salty categories, and five in the Noodles, this was a well thought-out combination of products, which is a testament to the chain’s customer-minded philosophy.

As for the weight of the bag leading us to believe it contained some sort of drink, we realised this was the culprit that gave us that impression.

The “Mixed Baked Doughnuts”, which fails to translate the Japanese description “訳あり”, which means “imperfect”, were as heavy as a bottled drink you’d pick out of a convenience store refrigerator. Compared to regular doughnuts, these were surprisingly heavy, and although they may not be as picture-perfect as some other doughnuts in terms of appearance, they looked totally fine to us.

▼ Perfectly imperfect.

The 17 items remain unchanged no matter which bag you pick up, and it’s a great way to get a taste of products you might not otherwise think to try at Lawson.

Everything we tried was delicious, and we were happy to have discovered them all, which just goes to show that a Happy Bag really can bring you happiness. So if you do come across one of these bags, we highly recommend giving them a go, but be aware that there is a limit of one per person and quantities are limited, so you’ll want to act fast to try them before they disappear for good.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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